


Meaner than my Demons

by CSmurf



Category: BnHA, boku no hero acadamia, mha, my hero acadamia - Fandom
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Named Reader, Reader has a quirk, Slow Burn, bakugo - Freeform, bakugou, mentions of child abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:26:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 34
Words: 55,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23382286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CSmurf/pseuds/CSmurf
Summary: The Home for the Precarious Youth of Perilous Ability was a cruel orphanage for children with quirks that their parents feared. The children here were put through copious amounts of mental and physical abuse and were told they were monsters society wanted nothing to do with. One escapee alumni, pro hero Thirteen, returned and freed three children and gave them the opportunity to become heroes. These kids will do everything in their power to study and become the hero the other kids in that awful home need and will work to destroy that horrible building themselves.With the help of friends old and new, they will learn to control their quirks and how to trust others. The main character, Sutomu, meets a determined Bakugo who takes it upon himself to train her to better control her quirk. He will show her that a quirk does not define a person, but how they use it. As the attraction slowly burns towards one another, Sutomu learns to trust herself, and Bakugo learns he doesn’t always have to fight someone else to become stronger.Title name inspired by Halsey’s song Control which fits very well with the character’s story.
Relationships: Katsuki Bakugou/Reader
Kudos: 19





	1. The Great Escape

”JUST KEEP RUNNING!” Thirteen screamed at us. “KEEP RUNNING UNTIL YOU FIND U.A.! FIND PRINCIPAL NEZU!”

She was helping the three of us escape the prison we called regrettably home for years and created a distraction for us to run.

“We can’t just leave you!” I shouted back.

“I’ll be fine. I’m a pro after all.” She gave us the thumbs up.

She sounded confident, but I was not so sure.

“Come on, Sutomu.” Shedo pulled at my arm with urgency in his voice. “She’s doing this for us. She’ll be fine but we need to go!”

I looked back at Thirteen with uncertainty. She was using her quirk to scare the doctors away from our location.

“Suto, please!” Toriga begged with tears brimming from her eyes. “We have to go!”

I bit my lip but then nodded. We had to leave.

So we ran. And ran. And ran. We ran in the direction Thirteen pointed us to. Eventually, we were out of the Forrest and into what must have been Musutafu. We had no idea where we were going, but we could not trust any of the bewildered observing adults we passed to show us the way.

We must have brought a lot of attention to ourselves, because a hero we remembered to be Best Jeanist stopped us. We were hungry, tired, and scared so we had no choice but to ask him for help. We told him thirteen had saved us from years of torment and may still be fighting off those people alone and told us to find Nezu. After calling in backup to track Thirteen, Jeanist called for Nezu himself to confirm what we had told him. We were not sure if this Nezu person knew to expect us, but it seemed so when Jeanist offered to escort us to safety.

We had no choice but to trust him.

As he led us down multiple streets, he tried to make small talk with us. None of us were willing to answer.

We must have looked small to him because he offered us the protein bars he kept on his person, but we politely refused.

Finally, we arrived at a massive building. It was very late but the lights of this building still shined bright. As we approached the gate, we were greeted by a small mouse resembling man behind the closed gates with two other men. A skinny messy blonde, and a man with long black hair and a tired look in his eye.

“Welcome to U.A.!” The small one greeted us with a smile. “Thirteen informed me of her plans to find you but I was under the impression there would only be the two of you.”

Shedo and I didn't know what to say. Toriga was not originally on Thirteen’s itinerary, but we refused to leave without her. Thirteen made no argument and ushered Toriga to follow us on our escape. 

“Oh well.” The one we assumed to be Nezu shrugged. “The more the merrier! Please, come on in children. We have much to discuss!”

We looked inbetween eachother. Thirteen knew we could trust Nezu, but after what we had been through, we didn’t like the idea of following strangers into a massive building.

“It’s alright kids.” Best Jeanist smiles. “Principal Nezu here is the principal of the greatest hero academy in Japan. He’s here to help you. I’ll go check on Thirteen and make sure she’s ok, but please, for now, follow Nezu.”

“Thirteen asked us to find Nezu...” Shedo whispered. “We can trust her. She wouldn’t steer us wrong.”

I looked up to Shedo. He didn’t look too sure of the strangers accompanying Nezu, but we had to get out of the public. Without a word, I led the three of us behind the other adults. Toriga’s arms wrapped tightly around mine and clung onto me tightly. We didn’t know what to expect.

——————————————  
My name is Sutomu.

The three of us had just escaped what may be the juvenile detention center from hell for innocent children, but on paper, it was called the Home for the Precarious Youth of Perilous Ability. In other words, an orphanage for children whose parents were too scared of their child’s quirk to keep them around. All of those kids were left behind by their parents at a young age due to the intensity of their power.

I was left behind at the age of twelve. I am a conductor of electricity. When I turned four, I discovered my quirk as being able to create small static shocks, but my power grew and grew until I nearly electrocuted my mother at the age of eleven. I then spent that following year being neglected by both of my parents. They refused to touch me or even acknowledge me. They were scared of me. Eventually, my breakdowns evolved into violent surges of electricity to flow around me and destroy anything nearby.

One day, I had enough and while begging my parents to just fucking love me and treat me like a normal kid, a storm was flowing around our home. As we argued and argued the storm got stronger until enough of an electro charge was created in the raging clouds above to strike through our home and unto me. That’s when we discovered my true form. I was made of electricity, I became electricity. I was a monster.

That house caught fire and rain poured in from the massive hole in the roof. Not even an hour later, after firefighters arrived to take out the blaze on our home, the madam showed up. Madam Kashakun. In front of all of our neighbors, I was strapped down and taken away. I never saw my parents again after that.

Over the following years, I was put through hateful torture. I was strapped into machines and was forced to use my quirk over my limit, the doctors believing I could lose my quirk this way, but the only repercussion from the overuse of my ability was the disintegration of my body. Starting at my fingertips, The disintegration would spread up my arms. It wasn’t until the disintegration reached my shoulders that one of the doctors gained a little humanity and insisted the Madame stop before it reached my heart. Discovering that my body could disintegrate was probably the most traumatizing moment of my life. 

————————————

We were taken to a medical room where a small old woman was waiting for us. The adults asked us no questions while this woman saw to our wounds. I heard her small mutters about malnourishment and uncared for injuries from over the years.

After properly bandaging us up and using her odd quirk to heal us, she gave each of us a small bag of chips and informed us that she was going to step out of the room with the other adults and return back promptly.

Just like that, the room was empty all for the three of us. Besides our eager eating of the food we were given, we were silent. Only hours ago we were huddled in our cell of a room begging for morning to never come, but now here we are surrounded by pro heroes. Thirteen wanted us to feel safe, but it was hard to feel anything but on edge. If we wanted to remain safe, we needed to take steps to ensure we will never be sent back to that prison.

“We can’t tell anyone what we can do at full power,” I spoke into the silence. 

Their eyes darted in my direction as I continued. “I’m not sure what they’re going to do with us, but we need to make sure that we are never sent back to that place again. If they find out what we can truly do, they will not hesitate to get rid of us.”

They silently agreed. The adults returned to the infirmary with a glowing Nezu.

“Hello again!” Nezu greeted us. “My name is Principal Nezu. I am the principal of this fine school and we have some questions for you three.”

We tensed. Lying was not dealt with kindness in our previous home, but we would have to do it now to protect ourselves.

“However, I’m sure you’re all very exhausted. Therefore, you will all stay here for the night. I will return in the morning with some nice tea and we can talk in my office. Until then, please rest. Should you need anything, All Might here will be right outside the door in the hallway.”

Our backs straightened.

“You’re All Might?” Toriga whimpered.

The skinny man nodded. “Yes. Unfortunately, a lot has changed since that battle with All for One.”

The man read our confused looks.

His face dropped to a sad frown. “You... don’t know about that, do you?” We shook our heads in response. We had no access to the outside world or any news of it and no one with access to the outside had to reason to speak with us except for lessons and scoldings. Everything we knew was from our memories before being locked up. 

A smile returned to his face. “Well,” through a puff of smoke, the big man we knew as All Might appeared striking a small pose. “Looks like I’ll have to fill you in on my recent heroics!” As quickly as he had appeared, he returned back to normal with a cough of blood.

I could see the look of amusement on Shedo and Toriga’s faces. Seeing their smiles, no matter how small, made me grateful to the man. 

“We would like that,” Shedo spoke.

“Well, more of a reason to rest.” The black-haired man muttered. “You kids get some sleep. We’ll send someone for you in the morning to lead you to Nezu’s office. Goodnight kids.”

We said nothing. We rolled onto our sides and the lights were turned out. The door was shut and we were left alone. The beds felt so soft compared to the cots we normally slept in. It took us no time to fall asleep from exhaustion.


	2. What Becomes of Us?

The next day I awoke to the low whispering from Toriga calling my name. My eyes slowly opened and revealed a nervous Toriga. Her chin rested on her fingers which were wrapped over the small metal side of my cot. It took me a moment to realize the change of scenery from what I was used to waking up to. Fearing we were found, I quickly sat up, scaring Toriga in the process. 

“What’s wrong, Toriga?!”

“Calm down, Suto.” Shedo groaned. “Someone brought us food.... actual food.”

That’s when I noticed the smell and the three small trays of food on the counter by the door. I haven’t smelt bacon in a long time but the scent was unmistakable.

Within that minute, we sat in our cots and scarfed down the breakfast we were given.

“The guy who left us the food told us we will be speaking with “Neezu” as soon as we’re done eating,” Shedo mumbled. “They also said we can use the shower in the next room.”

“Nezu.” Toriga silently corrected him. He nodded in response while shoving more scrambled eggs in his mouth.

As we ate in silence, I voiced the one question we all had on our minds. “What do you think they’re going to do with us?”

Shedo shrugged, eyes focused on his plate. “I don’t know. Maybe put us in a normal orphanage? Thirteen wouldn’t have brought us here if she didn’t think we would be placed somewhere better.”

“... who is Thirteen, by the way?” Toriga asked. “You all seem to trust her so much, but I’ve never heard of her.”

Shedo cleared his throat from the eggs he just shoveled into his mouth. “She’s an alumni of our ‘dear school’. She was the first of a few to escape.” He paused briefly, wearing his blank face he was known to wear through the toughest of occasions. “She was there when I was first abandoned. She took care of me and the other kids. We all looked up to her and depended on her for protection. One day, she told us she was leaving but didn’t say when or where she would be going, but promised she would come back with help. Then one day, she was gone.” He chuckled. “The madam was furious and questioned every single one of us, she even tried torturing some of us, but none of us knew anything and she was at a dead end. Honestly, we all lost hope and thought Thirteen would never come back. Can’t say I blamed her.”

———————————

Shedo is a handsome boy who was the same age as me and Toriga. With a sharp jaw and dull light grey eyes, his short black hair (which occasionally swept into his eyes) made him a heartthrob to most of the girls at the home. Shedo has been at that facility longer than both Toriga and I combined. His quirk was labeled “Shadow Manipulation”. His parents discovered his power one night while he slept. The darkness of his room became a biome of endless power. Objects in his room were being thrown by their own shadows. His parents ran in alarm and were shocked by what they found. His room was destroyed and the shadows began to envelop him completely as he peacefully slept undisturbed. His mother ran in without a second thought to protect her son but upon contact, the shadows crawled up her arm and covered her entire being with darkness. Shedo’s father was frozen in fear while he watched his wife try to swat off the shadows. Shedo finally awoke at the sound of his father’s screams and the darkness withered away to their normal places.

His mother was left pale. She had seen something in the darkness that had permanently traumatized her and left her paralyzed in fear. She was sent to a mental facility and Shedo was sent to the prison. 

At first, they kept him in a room of bright white light that shines in every corner. Their logic was, if there were no shadows, then he could not use his quirk. It was like this for a few months. To allow him to have even the smallest amount of sleep, he was given a sleep mask. Unfortunately, this is proven to take a strong emotional toll on him and he was then moved to a room of nothing but black. There were no sources of light to create shadows for him to manipulate so his quirk would not work in complete darkness. Over the years, this darkness made him a pale white, and his eyes faded to a soft grey and became sensitive to copious amounts of light. It was because of this he was given thick sunglasses to wear when we had our “county standard outdoor time” or what normal kids would call a recess.

By the time I was abandoned, he was moved to a normal cell on “good behavior”, having shown no interest in using his quirk. That’s how we met. I was in the cell next to his and we’d meet up during the outdoor period and some of our “bare minimum” classes the school was legally bound to put us through. By the time I met him, he was a blank slate. Being the same age, he was as welcoming as any traumatized boy could be. He was very understanding and was there for me when I had my severe breakdowns.

That’s how I heard about Thirteen. He told me he learned how to help the new kids by doing what Thirteen had done for him and all the kids that followed after. He told me many stories of her and I grew to idolize her myself but I never thought I would meet her, let alone be saved by her.

Shedo became my big brother and my best friend. We promised to defend each other and stay together no matter what.

A week before we were freed, Thirteen had found a way to reach out to him. She told him that she had worked to become a pro hero to gain enough influence to help take down this school and said she would need his help. She told him she was coming back to free him and he begged her to let me come along too. He had told me, she approved with “what could be a smile on her face”.

———————————————

“That felt so nice,” Shedo muttered, stepping out of the bathroom, hair still damp from using the shower.

“I forgot what hot water felt like.” Toriga smiled. “Taking luke warm showers at the home was terrible.”

A light knock on the door pulled our attention. 

“Good morning, kids!” The small nurse from last night greeted as she stepped in. “I hoped you slept and ate well. Principal Nezu will see you in his office now. Please follow me.”

We cautiously followed her out of the room and down the now lively halls. The energy radiating off the students was foreign to us. Small groups would walk past us, loudly chatting and giggling amongst their friends. Then we noticed one small clique as they ceased their conversation when they caught sight of us. Their looks didn’t look judgmental, only curious.

Can’t say we can blame them though. Three new faces with dirty clothes come walking down the halls of such a fancy estate full of clean-cut kids? Not exactly easy to blend in.

Toriga nervously wrapped her arms around mine. Shedo looked down at her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder with a small smile on his face.

“We’ll be fine.” He assured us.

“What was that?” The small nurse asked us.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. We’re just a little intimidated around these people.” I explained.

She shook her head. “No need. These children here are studying to become Japan’s next generation of hero’s. Some of the greatest hero’s have studied within these walls just to make a difference for our community. Being welcoming is one of a true hero’s attributes, so no reason to be scared.”

“See?” Shedo whispered to Toriga.

She smiled back up to him and loosen her grip on my arm.

“Also, everyone here knows me as Recovery Girl. I apologize for not introducing myself sooner. And here we are!”

We stopped in front of strong-looking hardwood doors. Recovery girl stepped up and placed a light knock like before. She waited for the approval to step in before slowly opening the doors.

The view the office had was amazing. Never before have we seen such a high view of Tokyo.

“How are you liking the view?” Nezu asked us.

“It’s beautiful!” Toriga whispered with excitement. 

“I don’t know when, if ever, I have seen such a sunny view!” Shedo gaped adjusting his glasses. 

“Well, please feel free to pull up a seat next to the window while we have a talk.” Nezu looked to the black-haired man. “Aizawa, would you mind adjusting the chairs for our guests?”

The tall man grumbled a response and moved the chairs from the front of the desk to alongside the massive window before politely ushering us to our seats.

The anxiety began to creep through me as I’m sure it did for all of us as we sat down. What were they going to do with us?


	3. Given a Chance

“I hope you all slept and ate well.” Nezu said cheerfully. “I called you in here to speak with you about a few things.”

“Is Thirteen ok?” Shedo blurted his question.

“Thirteen is ok and is having her injuries seen to by medical professionals.” Aizawa chimed in. “Best Jeanist saw to it that she was assisted and brought back safely.”

Shedo’s figure relaxed back into his chair, knowing that his hero was alright.

“Which brings us to our first question.” Nezu added. “To our understanding, the Home for the Precarious Youth of Perilous Ability is a school for students born with quirks that are too strong for the child to handle at a young age. Is this correct?”

I nodded my head. “Yes. On paper anyways.” I spoke carefully.

“What do you mean?” Aizawa leaned against Nezu’s desk.

I felt my blood start to boil while I explained. “It’s more like a prison. We’re left behind by our parents because they’re scared of us and left us in the mercy of Madam Kashakun.” My fist clenched as I try to hold back the tears. The lights in the room began to flicker. “She’s a cruel woman who tries to take away our quirks and if that doesn’t work, she puts us through a series of suppression to minimize our abilities completely. She insists it’s for the bettering of society but we’re just kids! She even makes us use our quirks against one another as punishment!”

The lights in the room burst, snapping me out of my fit of anger. Nezu and Aizawa don’t flinch but look over to the damage.

“Interesting.” Nezu smiles.

“I-I am so sorry! I didn’t mean-“

“That’s ok,” Aizawa spoke. “Sutomu was it? We would like to contact the authorities and have them open an investigation on the school for child abuse. If we do this, would you be willing to speak with the police and provide further details?”

“What will they do?” Toriga whispered to Shedo. 

“No need to worry.” Nezu held his hand up. “Our police forces are very good. They’ll open the investigation and visit the school. With any luck, they will find what they’re looking for and shut down the school for good and no child will have to endure what you have ever again.”

“That won’t help.” Shedo muttered. “They’ve were investigated after Thirteen left and they were able to cover everything up. They scared the young and weak into lying and hid the ones they couldn’t control as easily. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re cleaning the place right now.”

“I understand your frustration, Shedo.” Nezu reassured him. “We will be sure to send the best of the Musutafu police department to investigate and they’ll find what they’re looking for.”

Shedo didn’t look convinced. He had his arms crossed, glaring at the floor.

“Which brings us to our next topic.” Aizawa added. “Would you three care to inform us of your abilities?”

The three of us sat a little straighter. A deep pit of anxiety pooled in my stomach. We don’t say a thing.

“It’s ok, kids. You can trust us.” Aizawa spoke. “We just want to help you. But for us to do that, you need to be honest with us. Ok?”

Our silence lingered for a another moment, silently begging for someone to start first.

“I can manipulate shadows.” Shedo started. “I can use the shadows of any item or person to manipulate the object the shadow is cast from. I think I can travel by shadow but I’ve never properly tried it before.”

Good. Shedo was keeping to our promise.

“I... project and control electricity.” I lied.

The two then looked to Toriga who shrunk in her seat. “Dangerous.” She whimpered.

“I apologize for her.” Shedo wrapped his arm protectively over her. “She experienced the worst of it in her short time at the home. She can produce different type of bullets a shoot then from her finger tips. BBs, Tranquilzers...”

“... full metal jackets.” She added.

“Yes. Full metal jackets. She has problems controlling it sometimes, that’s why she’s in these huge gauntlets.” Shedo motioned to the thick metal that was clamped around her tiny hands.

Aizawa and Nezu looked to each other.

“It’s perfect.” Nezu said to Aizawa. “We have the resources.”

Aizawa sighed. “You’re not wrong.”

We were confused. What was perfect?

“Thank you for telling us.” The tall man said in his tired tone. “I’m sure you’re all worried about what will happen to you from here on out.”

Our hearts started to race. Here we go.

“We have discussed it with the rest of the UA staff and we would be honored if you attended our school.”

We were not expecting that. We thought they would send us to another orphanage, or a better juvenile detention facility. But not this.

“We have all agreed that it would be in your best interest to put you into our care.” Nezu added. “We understand that you have had no chances to learn how to control your powers, and with the.... velocity of your strengths, we thought it best that you learn here, with teachers who are qualified to do so. We have our own dorms here where you can stay. They are regularly patrolled so you can feel safe in your new home. You’ll of course attend the classes and be able to prepare your own future as you see fit.”

I began to tear up. We have never been given the option to do what we wanted, but here we are, being given a chance to do what we want for our future. Not to mention being given a home and a safe place to educate ourselves.

“And now for the even better news!” Nezu cheered. “We have decided, with your quirk’s needs in mind, that it would be best to place you into our very own hero course!”

“Wait. Why?” Shedo asked, voice wavering. “Why would you do this for us?”

“Well, there are students we have in mind in the hero courses who would be perfect for teaching you how to control your powers. They will be briefed on your situation and will be prepped on the best way to help you.” Aizawa explained.

“Of course, this is all up to you. If you feel up to the task of using your powers more, we will be more than happy to welcome you into the most prestige hero course in Japan.” Nezu informed us. “However, if you do not think this will be the best option for you, we will be more than willing to discuss the options of support classes or even general studies.”

“We should be heros!” Shedo’s sudden outburst surprised us.

“Shedo?” I questioned.

“Think about it! If we become heroes, we can stop people like Madam Kashakun from hurting children ever again! We can go back and help the others like Thirteen did for us!” Toriga and I shared a look.

“I’m in.” I said. 

We both look to Toriga.

“Will we stay together?” She asked Nezu.

“We have made the necessary arrangements to make sure you three are not separated.” 

“Ok. I’m in too!” She answered with determination.

“Alright then.” Aizawa stood up. “That settles it. I will see the three of you in Class 1-A tomorrow morning. I will prepare my class for your arrival.” He spoke before leaving the room.

Nezu looked back to us. “Of course that means Mr. Aizawa will be your teacher. He is known as the pro-hero eraser head. He can cancel out quirks for a short amount of time, so in the event your powers get a little out of hand, he will be there to help you.”

And that was it. That’s how we were accepted into the care of UA. Two days ago, we were shivering in our cells, and now, we were going to become heroes.

Nezu asked us to spend one more night in the nurses office while our rooms were being prepared. We were told we would be given a small weekly allowance from the government’s child protective services department to ensure we had what we needed to function in modern society. Things were changing for us. But whether it will be for the better has yet to be seen.


	4. Old Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I’m getting back into the groove of writing, please bare with me as I make corrections as I go. I write a chapter and then immediately posted after a brief proof read done by myself. Thanks!

We spent the remainder of the day speaking with local authorities about our experience at the home. We didn’t expect them to take our claims so seriously, but their caring nature gave us hope that we may be able to help the others after all.

After they left, we were pulled into the Recovery Girl’s office and were given our uniforms. We were then briefed on our schedules and given campus maps with our classes and dorms circled.

“The other kids in your class will be excited to meet you, but they have been asked to tone it down for the sake of your comfort.” Recovery Girl informed us. “ We have also spoke with the students who will be assigned to assist with the controlling of your powers. We have chosen carefully based on what we know of your quirks. This may change depending on how you progress.”

“Thank you again.” I smiled softly. “For giving us a chance.”

“Don’t thank me yet, Sutomu.” She shook her head. “We will be monitoring your progress closely. If we feel you do not match up to the standards of the hero’s course, you will be moved down to support or general studies. That being said, you shouldn’t have any issues reaching these standards as long as your willing to ask the right people for help.”

We slightly nodded.

The door swung open in a violent matter scaring the three of us. Toriga screamed and clung to Shedo’s side, burying her head in his side.

“PRESENT MIC!” The nurse yelled.

“Hey hey, kiddos! My name is Present Mic! I will be your English Teacher as well as the Master of Ceremonies around here! I heard you were starting today and just haaaaaad to meet you!”

A stapler was thrown from behind us and into Present Mic’s face. Recovery Girl was fuming.

“You were told what these kids have been through!” She scolded him. “You should know better than to barge into a room like a lunatic! Look at them!”

He looked down at us and his face softened as he saw the petrified looks on our face. 

“Oh shoot. I’m sorry kids.” He spoke softly, turning off his neck gear. “I was just so excited to meet you! I know I’ll be seeing you a little later in the day, but I just wanted to tell you all in person that all the teachers here have your back. I heard what you’ve been through, and that’s just not cool. Please let anyone of us know if you need anything. This school has a lot of resources to help heal wounds, and not just physical ones, right Chiyo?”

The nurse sighed and shook her head.

“Exactly. So, are we cool?” We shook our heads, a soft smile on my own face. “Awesome! Now then. Since I’m here anyway, how about I show you to your class. It’s due to start in about an hour. It should give you enough time to meet your classmates and get situated!”

We agreed and excused ourselves to change into our uniforms. It was so odd being in such nice, clean, and fitted clothing. Once we were ready we followed Mic out of the office and down the hall. He showed us which way goes to the lunch hall, where to find the bathrooms and where we could find our dorms. This school was so huge, I can’t imagine we’d get the hang of this anytime soon.

We passed by more and more students as we approached the classrooms. After getting into our uniforms, the class was going to start in half an hour. We were all looking around with wide eyes. This place was so clean and all the passing students looked so happy.

“Oh my- SUTOMUUUUU?!” A high pitched voice squealed my name making me flinch.

Loud footsteps from behind us got louder and louder until a familiar face swung into my view.

“OH MY GOD, IT IS YOU! I HAVEN’T SEEN YOU IN YEARS!”

“Holy... Mina?!” I felt the tears swelling in my eyes. She pulled me into a tight embrace.

“Wow, you’ve grown so much! Wait!” She pulled me at arm's length away from her and studied the two behind me. “Are you the three students joining our class today?! OH MY GOD YOU ARE AREN’T YOU! This is going to be great. You know, the other day I was wondering what happened to you and I was telling- oh my god...” Her look dropped. “You need to come with me! Like, now!!” She squealed with joy.

She started pulling my hand and started to run down the hall. I looked back at my friends and told them I’d meet them in class.

We approached the huge door with “1-A” above it. Mina came to a screeching halt and swung the door open. She took a deep breath before yelling into the classroom.

“KIRISHIMA!!” My heart dropped. “LOOK WHO I FOUND!” She pulled me into view of the classroom. All the students stopped and stared, making me feel anxious. 

“Holy shit, Sutomu?!” A redhead gaped. It took a moment to realize it really was Eijiro. 

“Eijiro?” My tears returned to my face. My middle school best friend, who I haven’t seen since I was taken away, was here in the same class as me.

He jolted forward and jumped over a desk that stood in his way. I took one step forward but Eji had already slammed himself into me in a tight embrace. I started to really cry, not realizing everyone was staring.

“Where the hell have you been?!” He laughed.

I cried harder. “Oh god, I missed you so much, Eiji!”

“Woah Woah. Jeez and I thought I missed you the most. Ojiro, do you have a tissue.” He reaches back to a blonde guy sitting at a desk behind him and handed me a tissue. “Here.”

I wiped my face, which led me to notice the silent stares.

“Oh god.” I covered the side of my face and looked towards the front of the classroom.

“Nah, it’s fine, Sutomu. Everyone here is pretty cool.”

“She’s one of the new students, Kiri!” Mina giggled.

He looked back down to me. “No way! Really?! You’re going to be in our class?! This is going to be awesome! I have to introduce you to everyone!”

“And here. we. are!” Present Mic spoke as he appeared in front of the door with Shedo and Toriga. “Looks like you already made some friends, Suto! Good for you!”

“Oh, I’m sorry guys.”

“It’s alright, Suto.” Shedo smiled. “Whose your friends?”

“Oh, um. This is Ashido and this is Kirishima. They’re good friends of mine from middle school.” I turned to Mina and Eijiro. “These are my friends Toriga and Shedo.”

“Awesome! Nice to meet you guys!” Eiji shook Shedo’s hand. He held his hand out to Toriga who just stepped closer to Shedo.

“They’re all a little shy, Kirishima.” Present Mic explained. He looked down to the three of us. “I have to head to my own class now. Are the three of you going to be ok?” We shook our heads. He smiled and stood up. “Alright then! You guys take care of our newbies! Rock n’ Roll!”

He closed the door behind him and left ya to the mercy of the other students.

“Why don’t I introduce you all to some of my friends?” He led us over to the small group of people around on desk near the far end of the room. “Guys this is Arakuru Sutomu. An old friend of mine that I thought disappeared off the face of the planet!”

Anxiety flooded my chest at the sound of my last name. “Please. Just, Sutomu.”

Eiji raised an eyebrow. “First name basis already? You sure?”

“Please. Just. Sutomu, if you wouldn’t mind.” I looked down to the ground. Eijiro looked down at me with a confused look.

“Hey we don’t mind, it’s a cute name after all.” One of the boys flirted.

“Hey, Denki. Cut it out, man.” Eiji defended me wrapping one arm over my shoulder. “She’s new, at least give her a few weeks before she brutally turns you down. Oh! Wait! Dude, you’ll love this! Suto also has an electricity quirk!”

“What? No way!” The blonde shrugged off the insult and leaned over the spikey blonde sitting at the desk they crowded around.

“Get off of me, moron!” The blonde shoved Denki off of him. Denki not looking phased but still starry-eyed at me.

“It’s mainly electrical manipulation. I can project where I want, but I can also mess with things that run on electricity.”

“Hey, that’s still pretty awesome.” Another guy added. “I’m Sero! I make tape from my elbows.” I smiled politely.

“And this brooding guy is Bakugo.” Ejiro introduced me to the angry student from earlier. “He has an explosive quirk. Definitely one of the stronger guys in our class.”

“What do you mean, one of?!” He glared at him. “I am the strongest!”

Eijirou laughed. “Alright, dude. Oh!” He turned to the others. “Sorry about that, what do you all do?”

“Oh uh, I manipulate shadows,” Shedo uttered, feeling put on the spot.

“Ooooh. Broody.” Denki smirked.

“Heh. Sounds like bird face over there.” Bakugo added.

“Pardon me?” A student with a raven head side-eyed us from his desk.

“Yo Tokoyami!” Sero called to him. “Shedo here has a quirk like yours!”

Tokoyami looked at Shedo. “Ah, you must be the student I was asked to mentor. My name is Fumikage Tokoyami. I look forward to learning more about your quirk.”

Shedo slightly bowed as a response.

“Oh! Then you must be Toriga! My name is Yaoyorozu Momo!” A tall girl with a fluffy ponytail rain from her seat to join the conversation. “I’m supposed to mentor you! Oh wow, you are super adorable! I look forward to getting to know each other!”

Toriga’s grip on Shedo’s jacket tightened.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. Did I scare you?” Momo’s look softened. “Sorry, I know I can be a little much sometimes.” She chuckled.

“She’s really shy,” Shedo explained. “She’ll warm up soon I’m sure.”

The girl grew a smile on her face. “Well then, I look forward to becoming great friends, Toriga!”

Toriga smiled in response.

“That must mean you’ll be with me.” A green-haired boy joined in from the desk behind Bakugo. “My name is Izuku Midoriya, I look forward to training with you as well, Sutomu!”

“WOULD EVERYONE GO AWAY!” Bakugo yelled suddenly. “YOU’RE CROWDING MY BREATHING SPACE.”

“You’ll have to excuse him.” Eiji nudged me, arm still wrapped around my shoulder. “He’s a hot head but he’s a good guy deep down.”

“WHAT DID YOU CALL ME, STUPID HAIR?!”

My old friend rolled his eyes “I’ll show you guys to your desks.”

As he led us to the back of the room, a question popped into mind.

“Hey, Eijiro. What’s going on with your hair?”

His face gave a look of alarm as he looked around to see if anyone heard.

“Well, Sutomu! I just like to spike my hair now is all. Super manly look, you know!” He laughed loudly before pulling me closer to him and whispered. ”Hey let's keep it between us about the hair thing ok. Black hair Eijiro doesn't exist anymore.”

”You mean between the three of us!” Mina’s voice crept from behind scaring the both of us.

She chuckled darkly before retiring to her own seat.

”Yeah. The three of us.” he glared after her. ”you guys will be sitting here. I don't think it matters which desk you sit at, but you're basically there for the rest of the year so make your decision count.” He chuckled.

“Thanks, man,” Shedo spoke before sitting behind Momo. 

“No problem, dude. I look forward to hanging out with everyone. Any friends of Suto’s are friends of mine!”

The door slid open and Aizawa stalked in. ”Alright, everyone. Take your seats. Class is about to begin.”

Everyone shuffled to their assigned seats and Toriga sat in-between me and Shedo. Eijiro lightly knocked on my desk whispering “I’m glad your here, Suto.” before returning to his own desk. I smiled warmly for what felt like the first time in a long time. Maybe this will be ok.


	5. Getting Settled

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I’ve been mentally working on this story for awhile now and have decided to finally put it on paper, so to speak. Authenticity is a huge thing to me and my writing, so I have been studying the symptoms of children who have been through different types of abuse to apply to this work of fiction. It is my goal to underline these symptoms to help make the story more believable as well as bringing some awareness as to what should be looked out for in our friends and families. That being said, I have been fortunate enough to not experience abuse first hand, so please bare with me as I try to write the effects into three fictional characters. Thank you everyone for reading so far and I hope to see and hear from more of you in the future.

“As I’m sure you’ve noticed, we have some new students,” Aizawa grumbled from the front of the classroom. “Normally, I would ask them to properly introduce themselves but due to time reasons, I will do that for them.”

I silently thanked him for that. I’m sure none of us were up to standing in front of the room and talking.

“Yoru Shedo.” Aizawa started. “Shadow manipulation. He can move objects and people by moving their shadow alone and can also travel by shadows too, it seems. However, you can only move the shadows of objects you could physically hold, correct?”

Shedo nodded once. I don’t remember us telling him that.

“Then strength training may be an additional benefit to your quirk,” Aizawa added, looking up from the documents in front of him. “Kinzoku Toriga. Bullets. She can shoot almost any type of bullet from her fingertips, however, the bigger the bullet and the increase in frequency it’s used can create a great amount of bleeding from under your fingernails as well as potential damage to the bones in your fingers. Needs assistance with aim and moderate but efficient use.”

“I didn’t tell him that...” she whispered to me.

“I know,” I whispered back.

“And finally, Arakuru Sutomu. Electricity. She can force-conduct electricity and manipulate any electric device. Has some issues controlling these the strength of her attacks.” How did he know about our weaknesses?

“Makes sense why they put her with Midoriya.” Denki chuckled.

That felt like a jab of some type to me. “What do you mean?”

Denki looked back at me but his joking smile dropped when he saw my face. He violently waved his hands in the air. “No! I didn’t mean anything by it! I just mean Midoriya use to have the same problem, is all! Right Midoriya?!”

Midoriya smiled back at me. “It’s true, but I’ll do my best to show you what I know! So let’s get stronger together!” He sweetly smiled.

He’s a sweet one. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, you're in good hands!” A girl added. “My name is Uaraka Ochaco by the way. Your quirks are super cool!”

The rest of the class muttered in agreement. As Aizawa called the class back to attention, the three of us looked to each other with a small smile. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

————————————-

After our classes, some of the students were asked to show us to our dorms. We followed the chatty group as they poked us with their questions about our quirks, likes, and dislikes. We were happy to tell them what we knew, but we didn’t have many answers for our personal interests.

“So this is the boy's side and this is the girl's side.” Eiji pointed out. “Shedo, if you want to come with me I can-“

“We’re separate?” Shedo asked.

“Well.. yeah.” He scratched his head. “Girls need their privacy and all that, you know?”

“We can’t be separated,” I added.

“Why not?” Jirou asked.

“We just. Can’t be.” I muttered.

“I want Shedo around,” Toriga whispered in her normal whispered tone, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

“He’ll still be here just on the other side of the building,” Iida added. “It’s not appropriate to have a completely coed dorm!”

Shedo nudged my shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry about me. Iida is right. We’ll still be in the same building. Besides you girls will be close together and Aizawa said the dorm grounds are constantly patrolled.”

Some of the others dispersed into their groups around the lounge while the three of us silently debated. Eventually, we came to the agreement that there was really nothing we can do right now and we should just do what we’re suppose to for the time being. I didn’t realize the stare I was getting from Ejirou.

“Sorry, about that.” Shedo bowed his head to Eiji, Iida, and Momo. “We’ll be fine. Please show us to our rooms.”

“Uh. Iida, why don’t you show Toriga and Shedo to his room.” Eiji suggested. “That way everyone knows where everyone is. Momo, would you mind if I showed Suto to her room?”

Momo tilted her head. “Uh. Yeah. No problem. I’ll bring them back and catch up with you two later.”

“Thanks, Mo.” He looked back to me. “Follow me. We can catch up a little!” He beamed at me.

I smiled and followed him to the stairway. On the way up to the top floor, he briefed me on the class schedules, curfew, and wake up times. We were already told this before but I let him talk because I missed his voice so much.

“And this is your room. Toriga will be to the right of you.”

“Thanks, Eiji. I appreciate it.”

“Actually. Can we talk for a little bit?” He pointed to my door.

“Uh, sure. Come on in?”

I entered the room with my old best friend. The room was very bare except for a bed, a window, and a desk.

He sat at the desk and I sat on the edge of my bed. It was quiet for the first few seconds. 

“Where have you been?” He started in a low whisper. “You and your family just disappeared one day. Mina and I came to your house after school and the house was destroyed. It looked like there was a fire. Our teacher told us your family had moved but we knew you wouldn’t leave without telling us, right?”

I bit my lip. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to lie to him, but I’m not sure how I could catch him up to the past four years or if I even should.

“Ok. Personal. I get it.” He nervously laughed. “So then, how’re your folks? My mom was sad your mom vanished to. I’m sure she’ll be glad to know you’ll back.”

My parents. That’s a topic that made me upset. I spoke without thinking. “I don’t know, I haven’t seen them in a few years.”

His eyes widened. “What do you mean?”

I made eye contact with him again. The worry in his eyes hurt me. Someone I trusted so much as a kid was worried about me and I was making it worst. My eyes started to well up.

“Woah Woah Woah.” He jumped from his seat and sat next to me on my bed. “Again with the tears... hey, Mr. Aizawa told us yesterday we were getting three new kids with difficult backgrounds but I just thought he meant kids from poor families. What happened to you? It’s been a few years, but you know you can talk to me.”

So I broke and told him everything. My parents neglecting and then abandoning me, the home, the years of mental torture, the escape. As scared as I was, I knew I could count on Ejirou to keep this to himself.

“Holy shit. Suto I had no idea.” He made a quick wipe under one of his eyes. “That’s. That’s fucking bullshit!” His outburst made me flinch.

“Sorry, I just... why didn’t you tell us when we were kids?”

“Nothing could have been done. My parents were scared of me and there was no changing that. I just wanted to feel normal in school and that’s what you both did for me.”

He held his forehead in his palm. “I feel so stupid! I should have known something was up. You always wanted to stay over after school, the countless clubs you tried to join. Damn and I kept making fun of you for staying the night at Mina’s so much! Fuck!” He tried to stealthily wipe another tear before pulling me into another embrace. “I should have known something was up. I’m so so so sorry, Suto. I should have been there for you.”

“Eiji, it’s ok.” I hugged him back. “It’s not your fault. I just didn’t know what to do. Besides.” I pulled away from him. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I’m sure I’ll never see my parents again anyway, so they can’t hurt me anymore.” That was a lie. I would always feel the pain of my parents giving up on me. I sometimes wonder if they would have still sent me to the home if they knew what it was actually like.

“Still! How shitty can you be!” He stood up ran his hands through his spikes. “You know, my mom always thought something was up with your mom. She said she was nice but something was definitely up with her when it came to you,” he growled in anger. ”Damn. That's just... Not fucking manly at all.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Ok. So, what’s going to happen now?”

I shrugged. “We spoke with the authorities and they said him they will investigate. But I don’t think they’ll find anything. The home is pretty good at covering things up.”

“Then let’s take them down together!” He looked at me with both fists clenched and his arms at 90° angles. “Let’s all get strong, become pro heroes, and then you, me, Toriga, Shedo, and I’m sure Mina, will blow up that school to hell!”

I smiled to him. “Ok, Eiji.”

A knock at the door pulled our attention. I opened the door and greeted Momo, Shedo, and Toriga.

“How are we?” Momo asked sweetly. 

“We were just getting all caught up.” He stepped out the door. “We’ll all be downstairs. You guys hang out as long as you want but they’re pretty strict on curfew. If you’re feeling up to it, you should come join us downstairs!”

I worded a thanks to him and he and a confused Momo walked back down the hall. Shedo and Toriga came into my room and we started to talk about what we thought so far. Everyone seems to like it so far with small concerns voiced by Toriga. I came forward and told them I told Ejirou everything but I swore to them the secrets of our quirks were still a secret in between us three. 

——————————————

-Kirishima-

I plopped down on the sofa next to Bakugou. He was outstretched with his feet on the coffee table, despite Iida’s constant nagging.

“How’s your girlfriend?” He muttered in a mocking tone.

“Dude stop. She’s an old friend of mine and Mina’s.” A thought came to mind. “Hey, man. I know how competitive you can get but you should probably keep it cool around those three.”

He side-eyed me. “What is that supposed to mean.”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “I don’t know man, you heard Aizawa yesterday. They come from a rough background. Just leave them be for a while until they get a little comfortable.”

“Psh.” He answered

In the time I knew Bakugou, this was his version of “fine”.

“You noticed it too?” Mina’s sudden low whisper in my ear made me jump. She was leaning from behind the couch, ignoring personal space.

“Yeah.”

“Did you talk to her?” She whispered even lower.

“Yeah. They’ll be ok i’m sure. But we should all work together to make them feel as welcome as possible.”

She gave me a big smile but muttering “I’m on it!” She launched herself off the back of the couch and ran to the rest of the girls.

———————————-

-Sutomu-

We did not join the others that night, nor the following night, or the night after that. We spent those nights crowded into one or another’s rooms studying and talking. After curfew, Toriga had made it a habit to spend the night with me.


	6. Toriga

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Toriga’s story hurt. Like, damn that was hard to write.

The next morning, we all awoke to some rather .... friendly faces.

“Good morning, Suto, Yoru, Kinzoku!!” Mina squealed from the kitchen. “How did you guys sleep for your first night?”

Shedo politely waved his hand. “Please, just call us by our first names. But, rather well actually.” He looked to me and Toriga. “You two?”

“Fine.” We both answered.

Toriga was very nervous and didn’t want Shedo to leave last night. After talking it through with her, she accepted that he had to go on the condition she stayed in my room with me. Of course, I wouldn’t have let her sleep alone the first night anyway. The poor thing.

—————————————

Toriga was a very scrawny tiny girl left behind at the age of 14. She came to the home with shoulder length brown hair, but after a her first few days, her hair began to fall out from the incredible amount of stress she had gone through within a week. As her hair grew out, it was very uneven, with odd long and shot pieces. She was so utterly broken when she was admitted that we had no idea how to help her and decided it was best we left her alone for the first few days. We would eventually come to deeply regret this.

Toriga lived in a very happy home. Her parents adored her, she did extremely well in school, and she found a hobby in learning all about gun ammunition. Her quirk started simple and easy. She could shoot from her pointer fingers. Being more of a scholar, she only took the time to learn about the bullets themselves but never to learn about her quirk and how to use it.

Finals were coming up and she was aiming to get all the scholarships and grants she could to get into her school of choice in America. Unfortunately, after four all-nighters of constant studying, the stress got to her and she experienced her first panic attack. Her mother had found her crying on the floor and unable to breathe properly. She called for her husband and he ran to her aid. She had never had a panic attack and began to panic even more when her mother suggested they take her to a hospital. Fearing what was wrong with her made her panic even more. She shielded her eyes and cried even harder, still not telling her parents what was happening. Her father, in fear of his daughter’s well being, begged her to tell them what was wrong and even tried to pry her hands away from her face.

She didn’t feel the multiple bullets leave her skin, she didn’t hear the shots as they were fired, but she did notice the sudden silence from her parents. As she moved her smoking hands from her face, she saw the traumatic sight that no child should see. Her parents lying dead as their blood pooled in her bedroom.

She screamed and screamed. She didn’t know when or by whom the cops were called, but they barged into the house and kicked down her door. They found a scared young girl, unable to scream anymore, shriveled in her own parent's blood begging for the nightmare to end. But it didn’t. The courts found her not guilty and ruled the killings as an accident, she was then given to her uncles care who wanted nothing to do with the girl who killed his brother and had her sent away to the home.

The madam had a field day with her. She believed the justice system had failed and she must now fix what the government could not. That’s when I came in.

I was being detained for a recent verbal quarrel with a teacher who had tried to beat Shedo out of miscommunication. The madam, surrounded by the guards, swung open the door to the detainment cell and demanded I came with her.

I followed her to the nursing center. A rarely used room only for students with serious injuries or experimentation. I panicked, remembering how they almost killed me the last time wanting to overuse my power.

And there was Toriga. Strapped into a table, barley conscious, dried tears on her face. I couldn’t hear what she was muttering but I could tell she was trying to beg her way out of this.

The old woman pointed at the girl and demanded I tried to “electrocute the girl into normalcy”. I was stunned and silent. My eyes wide and my mouth left ajar, I couldn’t comprehend what I was being told to do.

Punishments were never done by students, at least that I had known of. A sharp smack on the back of my head brought me out of it. She had struck me and demanded I “get to it”. I took one shaky step towards Toriga before coming to my senses. As scared as I was, I couldn’t hurt someone on purpose. I fell to my knees and begged the madam to please let me and the girl go. I apologized over and over and said I would never speak out again. She wouldn’t hear of it. That’s when I saw another guard pull in Shedo.

“How does 3 weeks in the light chamber sound then?”

Shedo’s eyes widened. He almost went blind in the time he lived in that chamber. His naturally sensitive eyes would almost shrivel up in that light. He could barely go outside as it was without special glasses.

I begged her again. I begged her to please let us go. I couldn’t allow myself to hurt someone again. Especially a scared girl who didn’t know what was happening.

“Four weeks!” She screamed at me.

Shedo’s screams for me to just let it go went unheard by me. I couldn’t let anyone suffer from me ever again.

“2 months!” She screamed even louder.

“Ok!” I cried. “... ok. Just please leave Shedo alone...”

She stared down at me with a scowl and pointed to Toriga. I slowly stood up and walked slowly. I was violently pushed forward towards the girl. I placed my pointer and middle fingers on the girl's temples. She, still barely conscious, looked up at me with begging eyes.

“I’m sorry” I cried.

I gave as low of a jolt as I could. I watched the girl's body tense and her back arched from the table. I stopped immediately.

“Again,” Madam demanded.

I opened my mouth to protest but she repeated herself louder.

I gave another low jolt with the same effects. The girl's eyes began to swell with tears.

“AGAIN!”

Another jolt as I cried harder.

“AGA-“ she was stopped by one of the doctors on hand. He whispered in her ear with a straight face. Her scowl returned.

“That is all. Go to your rooms.”

I looked down and the girl was passed out but still breathing. I was relieved at that. I slowly and cautiously stepped around the old woman and I left with Shedo.

We walked slowly out of the room until we heard the door shut. My knees gave out and I fell into Shedo’s embrace. Endless apologies left my mouth. To him and to Toriga. He was crying too and told me over and over that everything would be ok.

We found Toriga the next day in the home’s yard sitting quietly to herself and staring at the ground. We both approached her carefully. Shedo spoke first.

“What’s your name?”

She said nothing. He knelt to her eye level where her distant ones met his. He asked again.

“Arakuru Toriga.”

He smiled softly at her. “How are you feeling?”

She noticed my shoes in the corner of her eye and she trailed her eyes up to my face. I waited for her to say something, anything, but she just stared with a blank face. Her eyes then drift to the ground again.

“Do they always make you do that?” She whispered.

“No.” I started to tear up. “I’m sorry, but that was the first time. I hope it was the last. I’m so so so so sorry, Arakuru.”

“Toriga. Call me... Toriga.”

Shedo and I looked at each other. She was in the same mindset as us. Denying the family name of those who abandoned us.

Over the next two years, we became protective of Toriga. We felt responsible for what had happened to her and did everything we could to try to get her back to normal. Eventually, she was able to speak properly again but would only do so with us. Shedo and I swore, as much as we hated it there, we would need to stay in line to avoid what happened to Toriga from happening to someone again.

—————————————-

“Hey, do you guys want to go shopping with us this weekend?” Momo offered, eating from her plate of eggs. “All three of you, of course!”

“Yeah! We’re all going!” Eiji’s voice chimes in from behind me. “Me, the girls, Denki, Sero, even Bakugou.”

“THE HELL I WILL!” Bakugou’s yelled over from the couch. We didn't not noticing him lazily lounging on the sofa.

“Aw come on, man.” Eijiro groaned. “You never hang out with your bros anymore”

“Yeah, we’re going to start thinking you don’t like us.” Denki mocked sarcastically while faking a sob.

The argument went on in the background as Ejiro turned back to us. “I’m sure he’ll end up going anyway,” He nudged me. “He may act like a jerk but he’s a good guy.”

“He’s kind of scary,” Toriga muttered.

We all looked back at Bakugou as he and Denki argued, Denki laughing and not taking it seriously.

“Yeah, he can be. He’s naturally kind of a hot head though, so, please excuse his behavior. It’s how he treats all of us but I swear he’s cool.”

“SAY ONE MORE WORD AND ILL KILL YOU!”

Eiji’s eyes widened a little at his friend’s murderous outburst.

“Cool, huh?” Shedo huffed a laugh.

“Sorry about that. How about we eat? Class starts in an hour and I bet you guys are starvin-“ he cut himself off. “I mean! Not to sound insensitive, I just mean you had a big day yesterday and didn’t really join us for dinner, so-!”

Shedo raised an eyebrow at the panicked redhead.

I giggled a little and waved him off. “It’s cool, Eji. We get it. Let’s just eat.”


	7. First Shot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the patience thus far. I swear that we will start getting into the Bakugou stuff very very soon, I just found it very important to set up the characters and the story first. I have big plans for the story, and hope that you’ll enjoy it! Thanks!!

The three of us walked along Eijiro and Bakugou. Bakugou was silently marching to class, seeming to have no interest in our conversation.

“So... first day of quirk training,” Eiji said cautiously. He lowered his tone. “How are you guys feeling?”

“Quirk training?” Toriga whispered to Shedo. He looked down at her and gave a confused shrug. My grip on my school briefcase tightened.

“Hey, it’s ok.” He placed his hand on my shoulder. “I know I just met you other two, but believe me. Midoriya, Tokoyami, and Yaoyorozu know what they’re doing. They’re really strong, too!” He offered us a smile.

“I don’t know,” Shedo muttered. “It’s just a little scary. This will be the first time we have used our quirks voluntarily and... I guess we’re all a little scared.”

My eyes, which were previously set on the concrete as we walked, casually drifted over Bakugou. He was side-eying us with a very blank look. His eyes then went back to front-facing without any comment.

“I understand why you guys are a little hesitant.” Eiji continued. “ I can’t imagine the kind of mental process your heads are going through right now, man. But I promise you, everyone here is really cool and they’re here to help you. All you need to do is ask.”

Shedo smirked at his response. “Alright, man.”

“Oh, hey Sutomu!” Midoroya, who was previously in the group a little ways behind us, sped up to our group. “ I never got the chance to introduce myself! My name is Midoroya Izuku! Mr. Aizawa will have the three of us train separately from the rest of the class. He said it was important to give you as much space as you needed.“

“So we’re training together?” Toriga’s ears perked. 

Midoroya gave her a big smile. “Looks like it! Present Mic and All Might will be monitoring the others while Aizawa supervises our training.”

“See!” Eiji nudged my shoulder. ”You guys are in great hands!“

”Tch.”

We all looked forward to Bakugou who didn't say anything further. The three of us shared a look but shrugged it off.

——————————————-

Training was probably the weirdest thing for the three of us. We were asked to showcase our abilities to Aizawa and our three young mentors to give them a better idea of how we work. It had been a long time since we have used our quirks and using then again did not come easy to us at first.

Shedo willingly went first with a small demonstration of his shadow manipulation. By stretching the shadow of his arm to the shade cast by a small tree, he was able to move the physical tree itself by shaking it’s shadow without any physical contact. Aizawa then asked him to try to stop an oncoming attack using the opponent’s shadow. Aizawa then asked Tokoyami to throw a punch towards Shedo. By using his arm’s shadow again, he stopped the oncoming attack with the palm of his shadow‘s hand and gripped the shadow of Tokoyami’s arm, stopping the attack in mid-air.

“Amazing.” Tokoyami complimented. “It feels as through you actually blocked my attack.”

Shedo released his shadow. “Thanks, although there’s a lot about these things I don’t know.”

Tokoyami politely bowed. “Then I hope we have much to learn from each other.”

Aizawa called for Toriga but she had trouble budging. I offered to go before her to give her time to mentally prep.

Standing in the middle of the small clearing in the woods next to the training gym, it took a couple of breaths to mental hype myself, but I took my stance when I felt ready. A quick swish of my hand sent a whip of static racing forward, only to embarrassingly miss its target.

“Alright. Now try redirecting the same level of attack to the target dummy ahead of you.” Aizawa ordered with his arms crossed and his unamused look.

I nervously nodded. Standing in a wide stance, I made an electric conductor with with pointer and middle finger on both hands. I took my stance again and tossed another attack, a little more confidence than normal. The shock came sooner than I thought and blasted through me and towards the dummy in an overwhelming surge of power.

As soon as it came, it stopped, leaving a harsh and tingling pain shaking through both my arms. I retracted my arms and cradled my hands close to my chest in a groan of pain.

“Suto, are you alright?” Midoroya came to my aid.

I nodded. “Yeah. It just feels like a really really really bad static shock.” I groaned.

“Do you need medical attention?” Aizawa asked.

I shook my head. “No. They just feel a little numb but it’s going away. I’m fine.” I huffed shaking both my hands out.

“Alright then. Toriga, you’re up.” He motioned her to stand in my place.

To say she was nervous was a sever understatement. It took her a pep talk from Momo and for me and Shedo to physically stand by her for her to fire her first shaky shot from her smallest finger. Needless to say, her aim was way off, hitting a tree not too far from the target dummy because of her shaky stance.

Aizawa used what he saw from and instructed Midoroya, Momo, and Tokoyami what we need to work on. We spent the remainder of our hero training working on a few of our weak points, but we were unaware as to the some of our classmates peeking in on our demonstration from around the building.

———————————

-Bakugou-

“Why does Aizawa have Midoriya training Suto but not me?” Kaminari whined from his seated/squatted position on the ground.

“Because, she needs to learn how to control the amount of power she uses so she doesn’t destroy her body, man.” Kirishima reminded him. “I’m sure once she gets the hang of that, Mr. Aizawa will have her ask you for some pointers or whatever.”

“What’s up, Denki? Got a crush on her or something?” Sero mocked him.

“She is kind of cute though right?” Kaminari arched an eyebrow. “Blondes are cute.”

Jirou placed her foot in the center of Kaminari’s back and pushed him forward face first in the ground.

“You’re gross.”

“Yeah, don’t even think of my Sutomu like that!” Mina scolded him.

“Seriously, man.” Kirishima groaned.

Kaminari’s protest was cut short by a loud thunderous noise from the clouds. Looking back to the three newbies, we witnessed a strong electric blast flow through the new girl and destroyed the training dummy. I wonder if she’ll go brain dead like Kaminari, too.

“Oh my god.” Sero gasped.

“I’ve never seen her do that.” Mina gaped. 

“Me neither,” Kirishima added in awe.

I squinted. First, they were whispering to Kirishima about having not to use their powers before and now they're creating strong blasts? What are they hiding...?

All Might discovered us and scolded our snooping in on the new kids and invading their privacy blah blah blah, but we were ushered back into the building.

‘Blondie seems to have more power than I thought. A fight with her would be worth my time.’ I smirked to myself thinking of how I could easily take her down.


	8. You Learn from Me Now

-Bakugou-

This shit was starting to piss me off.

It was two weeks later after what we witnessed during the hero training and we had just finished our assigned sparring matches. In those previous weeks, the newbies were given separate rooms to practice their quirks with their amateur “mentors” as Aizawa called them.

The old man must have decided they were capable of fighting real battles because he had some of us spar with the three. I found myself going against the blondie, Sutomu, despite the objections from dumb hair, raccoon eyes, and that damn nerd.

”Now, now.” Aizawa hushed the complaints. “After seeing Suto’s progression, I believe they are **both** capable of having a beneficial and **controlled** match.” He look specifically at me.

For the benefit of her quirk, the match was held outside at the same time as everyone else’s sparring matches. Not that the handicap would matter I could take on anyone anywhere.

We started on opposite sides of a small clearing and I began the match with physical combat to access her fighting style and find her weaknesses. Her punches and kicks were decent but once she started to use her quirk, it wasn’t hard to tell she was holding back.

Compared to the attack she shot out two weeks ago, these small shocks she was sending through the ground were shit! I knew she was trying to use the ground to send the electricity to weaken my muscles, as she must have picked up from Pikachu, but it was obvious my best bet is mid-air attacks. She avoided my blasts with some expertise, something she probably picked up from that stupid monkey tail kid unless that damn Kirishima blabbed about my fight style, but she was still avoiding using her quirk at its potential.

“Why aren’t you fighting me, damn it!” I yelled while throwing another blast.

“I’m trying my best!” She argued dodging the attack.

“Bullshit, Blondie!” I swung my leg around when I landed, hooking her ankles and bringing her to the ground on her ass.

“All right, Bakugou. That’s enough.” Aizawa ended the round. “Everyone go change. That will be all for today. I’ll see you in class Monday.”

I glared at her as Mina, Hagakure, and Jirou came and scooped her up while praising her for that half-ass fight.

“Hey, man. I hope you weren’t too rough on her. She is still new that is.” Kirishima leaned the elbow on my shoulder.

I shrugged it off with a grunt and marched to the locker room.

While dressing back into my uniform, the other guys would not shut up about the newbs.

“You got to fight Toriga, right Kirishima?!” Kouda spoke with his pathetically quiet tone. “How was she? Her quirk is so cool!”

“Honestly, she’s still a getting the hang of fighting with her quirk but Momo is doing a great job with her improvement!” Kirishima spoke enthusiastically. “Thoes BBs hurt like hell, but I can’t wait to fight her again at her full strength!“

“And Shedo, that fight with you and Uaraka was pretty fabulous, too!” Aoyama cheered.

“With how the girls have been swooning over you lately, I’m surprised she could focus.” Kaminari nudged the brood in the ribs.

He nervously rubbed his neck. “Oh come on guys, the girls aren’t like that. They’re just being nice.”

“Aw. Look at how modest he is.” Sero mocked him. “She was so pink in the face at the idea of fighting you.”

“To be fair, Uaraka is always pink in the face,” Deku added. “Kacchan, you got to go against Suto, right? How did she do?! We’ve been working on her electricity conduit efficiency and-“

I slammed my locker shut without a word and left the room. Everyone had gone silent as I left.

-Shedo-

“What the hell is his problem?” I squinted angrily at the door that closed behind Bakugou. “Does he gave a problem with Suto?!”

“Nah. Like I said, he’s always like that.” Kirishima explained.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t take it personally, Shedo,” Midoriya added. “Trust me. I’ve known him since we were kids. That’s just how he is.”

My jaw clenches. I really don’t like his attitude.

“So what’s up with you and Sutomu? You guys have know eachother for a while right? You two together?” Kaminari asked smugly.

I was taken off guard and began to fake gag.

“Oh god no, man. She and Toriga are like sisters to me, what the hell?!”

The guys roared with laughter.

————————————

-Sutomu-

Back at the dorms, I had just eaten some lunch that Hagakure and Mina made for everyone and started to head back to my room for some study time.

Shedo was probably on his way back from hero training and Toriga was still eating with Momo, Mina, and Jirou. Ever since we started training together, Toriga has started to come out of her shell to Momo like she has with us. We were so excited to see her happier with more people more often but she was still unable to open up to people, which is understandable from where she came from.

I eventually ended up coming clean to Mina too. She and I were talking one-night last week and the same topic came up as that came up with Eiji.

I told her what happened and many many tears later, she told me that she and Eijiro would always be there for me from now on. I still remember a lot of our sleepovers and all the great times we’ve had so it was great to reconnect with her all over again.

A smile grew on my face as I reached for my door in the empty hallway.

“EY!” An angry voice rung behind me. The hallways wasn’t as empty as I thought.

My head quickly spun and notice an angry Bakugou marching down the empty hallway towards me.

“Uh. Bakugou. Hi?” I shrunk nervously against my door. “Wha-whats wrong?”

“Don’t give me that crap.” He stopped 3 feet in front of me. “What was that bullshit during training?!”

I couldn’t find the words to say, I wasn’t sure what he meant.

“I saw you a few weeks ago when you blasted the stupid dummy to ashes, but you come at me with some weak-ass moves?! You think you’re so much better than me that you needed to hold back?!” His booming voice was hurting my ears.

“Pl-please stop yelling...” I felt my chest tighten, making it a little hard to breathe.

“No! You don’t think I can take you in a fight, do you?! Is that why you held back?! All this bullshit with you three coming in late into the year and telling Dumb Hair you haven’t used your powers _voluntarily_ before?!“

“Please stop yelling, Bakugou,” I asked him again as I felt tears welling up in my eyes.

“And why would I-?!. What the hell, are you seriously crying?” He asked a little calmer.

“I... I... I’m sorry. I just-“ I placed my hand on my chest as I felt an anxiety attack creeping on.

Bakugou looked around, maybe to see if someone else was watching.

“....shit. Fine. In your room then.” He spun me around, opened my door, and lightly pushed my back into the room. He sat me on my bed and handed me a cold bottle of water I had in the mini cooler in my room.

I accepted the bottle and drank it sip by sip while I tried to still my breathing. When I wasn’t drinking it, I held the cold bottle against my chest to help ease the tightness. A minute or two went by while my breathing was started to regulated back to normal as Bakugou sat silently while sitting backward in my desk chair and watching me with a heavy stare.

“Ok.” I took small breathes. “Ok. I think I’m good now.”

“Great. Now answer me.” He said at a calmer but just as demanding tone.

“It’s hard to explain.”

“Try me.” He said unimpressed.

I bit my lip thinking how I could get out of this. When nothing came to mind that wasn’t making a run out my door to find Eijiro. I figured it would be best to give him the most vague yet truthful answer I could.

“I come from a really bad place, ok? Somewhere where they oppress your quirk and get to you to conform to their standards of normal.”

“What the hell does that even mean?”

“I honestly don’t know how much I’m allowed to say, but I wasn’t holding back because I thought I was better than you. I was holding back because I was scared that, if I didn’t hold back, I could have killed us both.”

“That’s pretty pretentious.” He huffed a sarcastic laugh.

“Bakugou, I’m serious.” I made direct eye contact with him. “Why do you think we had to have special training? We’re classified as dangerous! I’m sorry that I couldn’t give you the fight you wanted but I figure you could forgive that in exchange for not having all of your nerves fried off!” I clutched the edge of my mattress.

He continued to glare at me putting me in discomfort. His jaw clenched and he immediately stood up.

“Listen up.” He demanded. “You’re new, so I’ll fill you in. I’m in this to become the number one hero and to do that I need to prove that I am capable of fighting against anything that comes my way. That includes you.”

His dark tone began to unsettle me.

“Tch. I knew that stupid nerd had no idea what he was doing. No idea why Aizawa would bother placing him in charge of you anyway.”

I went to protest his wording but he continued. “On Monday, you train with me got it? Since you’re oh so worried about frying someone, I’m going to get you into shape so we can have a real fight and I can prove that, once again, I am better than any student here. Got it?! But prepare to actually work. That damn nerd clearly has been goofing off during training if that is the best you can do.”

“Midoriya has actually been very-“

“Monday after class.” He said once more before leaving my room and slamming the door behind him.

I... guess I have plans on Monday now?


	9. Progress

The next day, I was sat in the lounge with Mina, Denki, Ejirou, and Sero. So far I found this to be the group of people I felt the most comfortable with. Toriga was in the company of Kouda and Momo, who Toriga became very relaxed around, and Shedo was in the kitchen with Todoroki, Tokoyami, and Midoroya. Everyone found their own small group they felt safe enough with to be apart from the others.

Mina was talking about some musician she’s been working out to lately and asked me about some of my favorite musicians. I felt my face heat up as I desperately tried to list some singers that I remembered from before I was admitted to the home.

“Those are some old school musicians.” Sero joked. ”From five or so years ago but, still. Olllllllld.”

“Sero!” Mina scolded him.

Sero looked at her confused. “What?!”

I smiled politely. “Our previous school didn’t approve of music. Those are the musicians I remembered the most.”

“Whaaaaat? No music? What kind of prison did you go to?!” Denki laughed getting a violent punch from Eijiro. “Owie! What the hell?!”

“Shut up, dude!”

“It’s alright. He’s not too far from the truth.” I weakly joked, trying to play it off with a small laugh.

“Suto, Suto, Suto!” An out of sight excited voice came running from behind me. I turned my head and was greeted by an excited Toriga.

“Hey-Oh my god.” My hands clasped over my mouth.

Toriga’s normal brown raggedy shoulder-length hair was cut into a clean very short bob which complimented her face shape and her currently glowing skin.

“Toriga you look amazing!” Mina chimed in.

“Toriga,” Shedo called from the conversation with the guys in the kitchen, insight from the living room. “You look great!”

She jumped up and down a little. “Momo did it!”

“Isn’t she cute?!” Momo joined in, jumping Toriga in a hug around her shoulders. “I told her a new haircut is a quick confidence boost and now look how excited she is!” She fawned while shaking Toriga side to side.

“Super cute!” Sero added.

“Very!” Denki agreed.

Toriga blushes from either all the compliments or the realization there were a lot of people in the room who was looking at her.

“Ooooooh my god!” Mina jumped up. “Momo can we do the same for Sutomu??”

“Me?”

“Sure! Let’s go back to my room!” She squealed in excitement.

“Why me?”

Mina started to push me from the back as we followed Momo.

“Because you keep messing with your hair and complaining about it, so let’s just trim it up a bit!”

I saw Bakugo stalk in from the boys part of the dorms. “Uh.. ok. Hey, Bakugo!” I greeted him politely while being shoved towards the girls dorms.

He didn’t reply and just plopped in my place on the couch as I was dragged off.

——————————

“So how has everyone been treating you guys so far?” Momo asked while snipping at my hair.

“Fine. Mina and Eiji are old friends of mine, so being with them has been amazing!” I smiled up at Momo.

“If you hang out with them you must see a lot of Bakugo. He hasn’t been giving you to much trouble has he.”

“Well, besides being upset about our match, not really. He doesn’t really acknowledge me much, which is fine. Other than that, he hasn’t been that bad.” I shrugged.

Mina rolled her eyes. “He can be an ass sometimes. Kirishima asked him to back off a bit but with him, it’s best to roll with the punches and return his snarky remarks if you're brave enough.” She huffed.

“Ew, what about Mineta?” Momo asked. “He hasn’t been too gross, right?”

“Is he the short one that hangs out with Denki sometimes?” Toriga asked.

“They haven’t seen much of him since Kirishima threatened to smash him into actual grape juice when the girls first started here.”

Momo laughed. “He’s so protective over you girls. You two must have been close.”

“Best friends. Just like me and Mina. They didn’t hang out together much in middle school but they were the greatest.” I smiled up at Mina who returned it.

“Where did Kouda go?” Toriga noticed, looking around Momo’s bedroom.

“After you ran off, he got all blushy about being in a girl’s room by himself and ran off.” Momo giggled but stopped when she saw Toriga’s guilty look. She lightly bumped her with her hip. “Oh stop. It’s fine. You were excited!”

Toriga blushed.

“Oh wow, this is looking great already!” Mina hopped in her spot, standing.

“Yup. Just a few more layers and.... yay!” Momo stepped back to admire her work.

My pale blonde hair was cut 3-4 inches shorter with layers so it was just grazing the upper half of my back. After spending four years in the home, I couldn’t cut my own hair, and it was already pretty long when I was first admitted.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I cut it shorter a bit. You had quite a lot of split ends.”

“I don’t mind at all,” I whispered, running my hands through my hair. “I love it!”

————————————-

Monday arrived and we were just finishing up our courses for the day. We were all walking back to our dorms to merge into our normal social activities but I, however, had another arrangement.

“I’ll catch you guys later, I’m going to head to the training gym for a while.”

“Aw, really?” Sero sighed. “I was hoping we could all watch this comedy movie I really liked in my dorm.”

“We can still watch it, I’ll just be a few hours, ok?”

“Do you want some company?” Denki asked sincerely. “I don’t mind spotting you while you practicing your electro-blasts.”

I politely waved my hand with a smile. “That’s ok, I have a workout plan all set up. But thanks. I’ll catch you guys later!” A waved goodbye while running towards the gym. “Tell Shedo and Toriga where I am please?!”

I kept the part about Bakugou to myself. He seems like the kind of guy who wants absolutely everyone out of his business.

Approaching the gym, I saw Bakugo leaning next to the entrance doors in a pair of black sweats and a black tank top. He looked annoyed when he made eye contact.

“Hey, Bakugo,” I greeted him, slightly anxious about being alone with his... behavior. “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting. I was telling everyone I would be la-“

“You’re late. I’m going to assume you got lost so don’t do it again.” He grumbled walking past me, wordlessly telling me to follow. I ran up and followed close behind.

“This will not be like training with the nerd or that brain dead moron. This is not some “fun” excuse for you to goof around like a dumbass either. If you want to get stronger than I am the one you need to listen to,” He quickly spun around, making me come to a grinding halt to avoid running into him. “Got it?” He barked.

I took two steps back and nodded.

“Good. The reason you’re here is because that fight you put up last week was pathetic. If you’re going to come at me, you better prepare for the fight of your life because the only way I’ll grow stronger is if I am given a real challenge!”

As obnoxious and selfish his behavior was, learning from him could be beneficial. Midoriya was teaching me control and Denki was teaching me how to carefully channel my lightning through my body. In the past three weeks, I’ve gained more control over my quirk than I’ve ever had in my whole life.

“Do that shot from last week again.” He pointed to a beat-up dummy across the field. “Blast it.”

His sudden demand threw me off guard. I didn’t think we’d jump right into it so soon.

He squinted at the look I made. “What? You have a problem?” He shot at me.

“No- I just... I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I’ve seen you do it before, just do it again!” He started to sound aggravated.

“You don’t understand! It could be dangerous if I do that!”

“That’s dangerous?!” He growled. “Let me show you something about dangerous!”

Without breaking eye contact, he stretched his arm behind him and created a huge explosion shot, burning the dummy to a crisp.

“If you think for one second you can sit there and blubber to _me_ about your quirk being “ _too dangerous_ ”, then you’re stupider than you look!”

He was raising his voice again. I hate yelling.

Taking a look at my expression, he groaned and took a deep breath. “Just... do it. Ok?! You’re never going to learn how to use your full potential if you don’t give yourself the chance to try it! If you keep whimpering at the idea of using your quirk at its strongest, how can you ever claim you can control it!!” He barked.

I don’t think he meant that to come out as inspirational as it did, but it was enough to encourage me to just try it. He was right, I would never learn to control my quirk if I didn’t try to tame it as it’s strongest.

“Ok. But I’ll need you to teach me how to control such a massive attack.” I spoke with determination.

He held no look on his face. “That’s what I thought.”

For the next couple hours, he coached me (in a method resembling a drill Sargent more than an actual coach) how to control using my currents. Using what Midoriya and Denki taught me, I tried to contain and then push my electricity before releasing it through my pointer and middle finger. Bakugou taught me the proper stance by kicking my feet from its current stance into a wider position. He also taught me how to keep my ground while releasing the energy by digging my heels into the dirt while holding my arm steady while shooting. I started out small, much to Bakugo’s displeasure, and worked my way up to bigger stronger shots. After those two hours, I couldn’t feel much of my arms. I had to delegate my power usage with the occasional break to avoid my limbs dissolving. I delivered another strong blast before Bakugo decided to end the session.

“You can stop now.” He spoke while rolling his shoulder, walking away casually. “Just keep working on that. I expect a stronger fight next time you go against me. Got it?”

“Wait, Bakugo,” I called out to him in exhausted huffs. He cranes his around and looked back at me with a blank face. “I want to do this again. Please. Keep teaching me.”

He stared at my pathetic huffing form up and down before turning his head and continue walking.

“Fine. Be here tomorrow, but if you’re late again I’m ditching.”

I huffed a breath of relief. In the short time Bakugo was training with me, I learned so much about the control and release of my quirk than I could ever imagine. I still had so much to learn but I was glad to know Bakugo was willing to further my training.

Even though his reasons were selfish, I was determined to learn as much as I could from anyone willing to help.


	10. New Tricks

It was Thursday and we were back to our quirk training class. Everyone seemed surprised at the improvement I’ve made since last week, unaware of the progress I made training with Bakugo in the past three days.

”You're getting better, Suto!” Midoriya said, blocking some of my punches. “Given any thought to your hero name yet, Sutomu?” 

“Not really. I never was one for an imagination. Any ideas?”

He dodged a punch. “No, sorry. You should ask Kaminari! Maybe he has some rejected ideas from thinking of his hero name he could spare.” 

I stopped my attacks and wiped some sweat off my forehead. “Not a bad idea. I’ll talk to him later.”

He turned and grabbed the two bottles of water on the sidelines. “What about your costume?” He handing me a bottle and drank his own.

“Oh shoot. I completely forgot about that. Was there a due date for that?”

He looked at me sympathetically. “I’m sure Aizawa will want you to draw one up soon. Maybe you should visit Hatsume? She’s a little intense but she helped me with my costume, I’m sure she can help with yours! What about you two?” He looked behind me.

I turned to face Toriga and Shedo who looked just as exhausted as I did.

“I think we’re all set actually.” Shedo grinned. “We both visited Hatsume two days ago and she gave us some ideas. We’re suppose to take a look at some of them today if you want to come along Suto.”

I groaned. “You two already have something?”

Toriga smiled softly. “Moidoriya helped out quite a bit with mine.” She showed off her new Kelver Fabric gloves. “He suggested I try a bulletproof fiber that’s lightweight but will stop any unintentional shots from firing.”

Midoriya nervously blushed. “No big deal. Just a fabric I learned that a lot of heroes use.”

“As for names,” Shedo added. “I’m still pushing some ideas. But I think Toriga should be Trigger Finger.”

My face lit up. “That’s perfect for you!”

“You guys talking about Trigger over here?” Momo and Todoroki joined us.

“Come on guys.” Toriga blushed.

“I agree, it would be a great name,” Todoroki added with a welcoming smile.

“You two should join the class chat room!” Momo pulled out her phone. “You can ask them to throw around some ideas. What’s your cellphone numbers? I can add you right now!”

“We uh... actually don’t have cellphones.”

Momo’s face turned a bright red. “Oh, oh my god that’s right. I’m so sorry, I probably sound so spoiled.” She bowed apologetically. “I’m so so so so sorry!!”

“It’s ok, Momo.” Toriga politely waved. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Yeah, but if you don’t mind, please do ask the other students for any ideas,” Shedo said with a smile making Momo blush a deep red.

“Uh, yeah sure! No problem! I’ll do that right now.”

“What’s up with your face?” Todoroki asked curiously.

“Nothing! I just- oh look a text!” She then walked off on her own way.

“Really?” I side-eyed him.

“What?” He looked confused before realizing. “I didn’t do that on purpose! I was being nice!” He groaned.

“We told him how the girls act around him,” Todoroki added using his normal monotone.

Denki and Sero casually walked by to get some more water.

“Right?!” Denki added. “I’m surprise neither of you girls are into him.” He smirked with mischief.

Shedo and I made eye contact before frantically gagging.

Denki and Sero broke into uncontrolled laughter. “SEE I TOLD YOU, MAN!” He wiped a tear from his eye as Sero clenched his stomach.

Toriga softly giggled with them.

\-------------------------------------

I greeted Bakugo in my normal manner after classes and was met with his same grunt of acknowledgment as he walked to our normal training spot.

”How should we start today?” I asked, carefully following him.

“You’re going to fight me.” He spoke over his shoulder.

My face reddened and I stopped walking. “What? Already? I’m still learning! There’s no way I’m ready to take you on yet!”

“Then consider it a progression test.”

He walked down a little further then stopped and turned to face me.

Getting into his fighting stance, he looked at me with a serious look in his eyes. “So fight me.”

“Bakugo, I don’t think that-“

“Chill, alright? I’m not going to start throwing big explosions at you. Fists only, got it?” 

That was something I could be a little more comfortable with. Eijiro and Midoriya have been awesome sparing partners and taught me a lot about basic combat but, once again, I still had a lot to learn.

I’ve seen how Bakugo fights and he’s not exactly an “easy target”. If he plans on going all out, which I know he will, then I have my work cut out for me.

“Let’s see what stupid hair has been teaching you!” He proclaimed making a running hit at me.

I instinctually blocked his attack and tried to block every oncoming attack he threw. At least I tried until he got a knee shot to my side making tumble to the ground.

”Would you put up a fight already?!” he yelled towering over me. ”After all that training from those dumbasses, I highly doubt you learned nothing-”

I took his rant as an opportunity to hook my foot behind his and knock it from under him.

”Heh. Like that?” I rubbed some dirt off my lip and stood back up.

He smirked up at me. ”Exactly like that.”

He jumped back up and he proceeded to throw punches at me, myself returning some.

The match consisted of mainly blocks by one or the other and a few hits made (Almost all from Bakugo). I managed to hit him in a manner that made him stagger back a little, putting some space in between us. He looked back with a crooked smile.

”Much better. But try this!” He took off in a sprint and lunged at me.

It all happened in slow motion. He was making a direct hit towards me. I felt my nerves flare-up in static and tried to think of a way to avoid it. He's expecting a block or an attack towards his front, leaving his back completely exposed. I need to find a way around this!

Before he could make contact, there was a flash and then I was behind him. Bakugo’s fist came to a halt, wondering where I went. He turned and found me, not looking amused.

I froze. ”I... What just happened?”

”I thought I said no quirks. If you wanted to use your fancy tricks, you should have said something.”

”I’ve never done that before.” I muttered to myself.

”Great so you learned something new. But can you do it again?” He crossed his arms. 

”I’m not quite sure what happened in the first place, to be honest...” My voice whole a little. The idea of a new ability meant something else I had to control.

He nodded towards two out door power outlets. ”You zapped into that outlet and must have come out of that one.” His gravely voice explained. ”Looks like you can travel.”

I ran the logic through my head. The speed of light could explain how I moved so quickly. Does this mean I can follow any current?

”Hey, Sparky! You're making the same look that damn Deku makes when he's overthinking his nerd stuff.”

I noticed I was subconsciously holding my thumb under the bottom of my lip. I have caught Midoriya doing this quite a few times while he was mulling over our quirks.

”Think you can do it again?” he asked with an arched eyebrow.

I opened my mouth but could not answer. Could I?

”Do you remember what you were thinking when you did it, before?” He stepped closer arms still crossed.

”I remember thinking ”this is going to hurt”.” I weakly joked. The sight of his straight face told me he wasn't amused. ”Um. I remember thinking how I could get an advantage if I was behind you and then I felt static flow through my nerves, but I thought it was just anxiety...“

He huffed a laugh and briefly looked to the side. “Let’s see you do it again.”

“Oh. Um. I can try.”

For the next half hour, I tried over and over to replicate what I just did with the help of Bakugo’s constant barking, kind of. Until finally I was able to replicate it by not focusing on entering and exiting the outlet, but the direction of the current I wanted to travel.

“YES! OH MY GOD! YES! I ACTUALLY DID IT!” I cheered to myself. After many disappointing attempts, I was able to land myself five feet away from Bakugo.

In the heat of the moment I flung myself onto Bakugo in a hug around his neck, a motion I was use to doing with Shedo, Eijiro or Mina when I got excited.

Quickly realizing my mistakes, I took a massive step back with my clenched fists pressed against my chest. His eyes were wide as red crept over his cheeks and he looked to the side. I can’t imagine many girls get that close to him so he was probably taken off guard.

“I am. So sorry.” I quickly apologized. “I got really excited and... I’m so sorry.”

“Whatever... Damn live wire.” He huffed. “That’s enough. I’m heading into the gym to change.” He turned and walked off.

“So, you aren’t mad?” I called after him. “Did you still want to meet up tomorrow or?”

“I’m training by myself tomorrow.” He answered.

“Oh...” I signed.

“But if you show up, I won’t stop you. Just don’t expect me to help you, I have my own damn quirk to work on, you know!” He yelled back before slamming the door shut.

I smiled widely to myself.

Walking back to the dorms, I kept thinking of the name Bakugo called me. Live Wire wasn't too bad of an idea...


	11. The Truth

Toriga didn’t show up to class. After coming back from training with Bakugo, Shedo told me Toriga excused herself to her room after Momo asked her what her parents do for a living. A simple question that was asked to the wrong person. Shedo said she got really shifty and just left for her dorm. Momo figured she asked something too personal and tried to talk to her, but Toriga smiled and said she was just tired and wanted to go to bed.

I stopped by her dorm to talk to her myself but she asked me to please leave her alone, so I respected her wishes before reminding her we loved her no matter what.

The next day, Asui and Hagakure said they saw Toriga head to school early. Shedo and I were worried but by the time we were aware, everyone else was about to leave for class.

We hastily walked to our class but Toriga wasn’t there either. This is when we started to panic.

————————————-

-Toriga-

I couldn't take the guilt anymore. I didn’t belong in this school after what happened to my parents. Everyone was so nice and welcoming but they didn’t know what I’ve done. If they did then they would gave never accepted me. I felt like I was lying to everyone. To Momo, to Kouda... I just felt so terrible. I decided to come clean to principal Nezu. I hesitated to knock on his office doors, thinking twice about what I was doing. If I turned around right now, no one will ever have to know and I can keep living my life with my friends. I had my fist an inch away from the door wondering what will happen to me after this if I did go through with it, or even worse, Suto and Shedo. What if they’re kicked out because of me! They would never forgive me and might even leave me!

No, that isn’t true. They wouldn’t do that. But I’ll always feel their resentment towards me.

“Good morning, Toriga!” A chipper voice scared me.

“Principal Nezu!” I quickly turned around to the happy-faced person behind me.

His face fell. “Oh, I apologize. I didn’t mean to scare you. Were you looking for me?”

I stuttered. Do this or not? DO THIS OR NOT?!

He grinned up at me. “Please come in! Have some tea with me!”

He walked ahead and opened the door for me. I don’t think I can turn back now.

I sat down at the chair in front of his desk. I could feel my hands shaking and I tried to stay calm. As he was pouring some tea he asked me what brought me to his office. So I broke down. I told him everything about what I did to my parents. I didn’t belong here and I needed to come clean to the people who open their hearts and homes to us and gave us a place to stay safe.

Nezu stood and listen to me patiently. After my fit, Nezu handed me some tissues and asked that I take a moment to catch my breath. His calm demeanor as he told me he wanted to call in Aizawa made the pit in my stomach deepen. After a quick text, Aizawa showed up almost immediately. He took calming strides and stood next to Nezu at his desk.

The silence was thick while someone tried to find the right words. “It’s ok, Toriga.” Aizawa spoke calmly. “We know.”

My blood ran cold. “You knew already?”

“Yes.” Nezu nodded with a small smile. “As much as we wanted to help you kids, we couldn’t just admit you to this school without knowing who we were dealing with. So we went through the police records. We know about all you three.”

Aizawa sighed. “It makes sense that you wouldn’t remember, but I was there that night, you know?”

My breathing stopped. “You were-...”

He nodded. “A call came in that a quirk was out of control. I responded to the call but I didn’t know it was just a kid...”

He walked over and squatted a respectable distance from me to eye level.

“What you went through was terrible. No child should ever have to experience that. But you know it wasn’t your fault, right?”

I slowly nodded.

“Good.” He nodded back. “Whether you tell any of your classmates or not is completely up to you. I may not be a professional child physiatrist but it may be in your best interest for you to start taking advantage of our counselors on campus. You’ve been through a lot and I can’t imagine that terrible place you were forced to attend helped at all.”

As Aizawa rose from his place and moved to his previous apt, Nezu read the hesitation on my face. “Our counselors are some of the best Japan has to offer. They’ll be more than happy to see that you get the help you need to heal and grow. But we won't force you to go. You need to be the one to make that call. But I promise, if you reach out to the right people, they will help you. They can’t change what happened, but they can help you keep going.”

I wiped the tears from my face. “Ok.” I nodded. “I want to keep going. I really do.”

“That’s great to hear. I’ll reach out to her and ask if she can see you later today. I’m sure Aizawa will be alright if you miss a few hours of class, right Aizawa?” He smiles up to the tired man.

He sighed. “It’s not ideal, but your mental health is always a priority. I’ll allow it for today, but I suggest after this you schedule before or after classes.... or during Mic’s class.” He muttered the last part.

“We’re honored you wanted to be honest with us, Toriga. Honesty is very crucial to healing.” Nezu praised me.

I froze. Honesty. I feel like I needed to be completely honest.

“Was there something else?” Aizawa asked.

I stared down at the carpet. Wondering what I needed to do. What I should do.

——————————————-

-Sutomu-

“So no one has seen her?!” I yelled over the class.

“No not since this morning.” Todoroki shook his head.

“Maybe she wasn’t feeling well and went to the nurse,” Midoriya suggested.

“No, she would have told us,” Shedo replied. He was starting to get nervous too. “Or- or just stayed in the dorm”

“It’s alright, Suto. Mr. Aizawa should be here soon. He might know where she is.” Eijiro tried to calm me down.

“Oh shit! Where is Mr. Aizawa?!” I noticed he was late to class. The two of them not being here made me thing Toriga got into trouble.

“Geez. Calm the hell down!” Bakugo barked from his seat. “You’re freaking out over nothing!”

Shedo glared at Bakugo and was about to argue back to him but the door slid open, bringing the class to silence.

In walked All Might with a smile on his face.

“Good morning everyone! Your teacher is running late and asked me to fill in for the meantime. Oh, Shedo, Sutomu? Principal Nezu asked to speak with you two for a moment.”

This almost confirmed something was wrong.

“Oh shi- Suto, I’m sure everything is fine!” Mina tried to smile. “She’s probably just not feeling well and Nezu wants you to take her back to the...... dorms...” Before she could finish her sentence, we were out the door and urgently rushing to Nezu’s office.

We skipped the formalities and swung the door to his office open. We immediately met eyes with Toriga and sighed in relief.

“Oh my god, you’re ok!” Shedo sighed, clenching his chest.

“Toriga!” I whined. “We were freaking worried about you!!!”

“I’m sorry.” She cried. But it was apparent she was apologizing for something else.

Upon Nezu’s calm request, we sat down on both sides of her.

“Toriga decided to come clean about the incident about her parents. But we already knew. In fact, we know about how all three of you ended up where you did.” Nezu spoke with seriousness.

“She has also come clean about her quirk.” Aizawa added with an upset tone in his voice. “Which we did not know. But she’s not the only one holding secrets about her quirk, is she?”

I spun my head over to her. “Toriga!” I turned to her. “Are you serious?!”

“I’m sorry!” She sobbed. “I just don’t want to lie anymore. They’ve been so accommodating to us! They saved us from the streets! We owe it to them to be honest!”

“So you rat out everyone?!”

“Suto! Cool it!” Shedo warned me pulling the sobbing Toriga into his chest.

“All of you!” Aizawa raised his voice. “Sit down.”

I complied.

“When we asked you what you could do, we wanted to confirm what we already knew. It’s disappointing you all decided to withhold crucial information from us, but we are giving you the chance to come clean now.”

“You know everything about our quirks.” I lied with my arms crossed.

Shedo looked over to me. “Sutomu!”

I ignored him. We were not risking being sent back to that place.

Nezu sighed and shook his head. “It’s upsetting you feel that not telling the truth is necessary, Sutomu. But you must understand the reason we need to know is for your own safety. We can’t help you learn control if we don’t know what there is to control.”

“You know everything about our quirks,” I repeated.

“Sutomu. Enough!” Aizawa groaned slamming his hands on the desk. “You need to trust us. Just tell us the truth. You won’t get in trouble if you tell us now.”

“Yeah?! And how do we know that?!” I stood back up and yelled. “We thought we could trust our families, but then they found out what we could do and they threw us out like we were nothing!” My first were clenched as the tears rolled down my face. “We depended on them to care for us, protect us, love us, and accept us!! But they couldn’t do that, now could they?! They threw us into that hell hole where we were tortured for years and they never looked back. We couldn’t even trust our families, how the hell can we trust strangers?! Who's to say you won’t throw us right back into that horrible woman’s hands as soon as we tell you the truth!” I could barely breathe through the tears. All the hurt from what my parents did flowed through me in a violent sense of self-preservation.

They did not respond right away. Shedo stared up at me in shock of my outburst. 

“I know this must be hard,” Aizawa spoke carefully, running a hand through his hair. “But you’re right. There’s absolutely nothing we can do to prove to you we won’t do what you’re families did, but trust is mutual. You need to trust us, so we can trust you. What you went through was... absolutely despicable. No child should ever live through that.” 

“We’re not asking you to trust us right away,” Nezu added softly. “but to give us the chance to prove you can trust us.”

I took a deep breath and fell into my seat. We really had nothing to lose anymore. If we didn’t tell them, they would have still kicked us out for my outburst.

“Ok.” I sobbed. “Ok.”

“I don’t only move shadows.” Shedo started, still holding a crying Toriga to his shoulder. “I can make them physical. I suffocated my mother in a mask of complete darkness which drove her insane. Last I heard, she was still admitted to the same asylum. My power was labeled “Nightmare” by the doctors. My eyes are very sensitive to sunlight because of the lightless room I was locked into for god knows how long. That’s why I wear these sunglasses all the time.”

“That would have been good to know before I almost confiscated them,” Aizawa commented.

Shedo huffed a laugh. “Sorry.”

The room was quiet. I’m assuming they were waiting for me but I was still hunched over crying.

“Take as much time as you need, Sutomu,” Nezu spoke with reassurance.

In the corner of my vision, a water bottle was handed to me from Aizawa. I gratefully took it and after wiping my face dry with a tissue. I took a small sip.

I took a deep breath. “I don’t control electricity. I am electricity. I’m not sure how it works but this solid form can deteriorate if I use too much of my own resource.” 

Still not making eye contact with anyone, I continued. “I am my own power source. Bakugo and I recently found out while training that I can merge with electrical currents. But like I said, my body deteriorates the more I use my own source. First, my limbs dissolve and it goes from there. They can regenerate as I regain my strength but the doctors at the home believe I could die if the deterioration reaches my heart... I electrocuted my mother by accident. She survived but my parents treated me like a feral animal after that. Eventually, I attracted a strike of lightning so strong, I almost blew up our house.”

“That’s a lot different from what we thought,” Aizawa responded.

I sighed. “I know.”

“So what happens now?” Toriga asked.

“I think everyone needs a moment to take a breath. After that, you will all return to class where you will have to tell the class exactly what your quirk is.” Aizawa explained.

I shot a look. Aizawa held his hands up. “Now before everyone freaks out, just remember we have students who secrete acid and one who can blow anything up. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he has it out to do so.”

“So. We can stay?l” Toriga asked.

“Yes,” Nezu smiles. “unfortunately for Sutomu, you have failed to scare us away. But it’s clear you have all suffered a lot of trauma in the previous years. After speaking with your class, Toriga has agreed to speak with one of our amazing counselors which we extend that invitation to you two as well. As we told her though, we cannot force you, but only highly recommend it for your health’s sake.”

“If everyone feels better, I suggest we get back to class. All Might has a tendency to get sidetracked, so I would not be surprised if he’s in there rambling about honor or whatever.” Aizawa walked past us as an invitation to follow.

We all stood up and walked after Aizawa.

“Sutomu,” Nezu called.

“Yes, principal Nezu?”

“Thank you for trusting us. You’re a welcome student here and we have no plans to remove you.”

I smiled and wiped a stray tear. “Thank you. And sorry.”

“No need for apology! You were looking out for your friends. That’s what any hero would do.”

I nodded and caught up with everyone. I still owed someone else an apology.

“Sorry for yelling at you, Toriga. You didn’t deserve that.”

“It’s ok, I’m sorry I ratted everyone out.” She smiled up at me.

“You didn’t rat us out. If anything I feel like a weight has been lifted.” Shedo pat his chest. “Tokoyami has just been ASKING for a real fight since he has that shadow thing with him.”

I giggled at his enthusiasm.

“So uh...” Shedo nudged my shoulder. “You’ve been hanging out with Bakugo lately? Is that where you’ve been going after classes?”

I socked him in the shoulder.

“Shut up. He was pissed about our match in class and wanted me to “stop holding back”. He was so angry he wanted to start training me himself. Surprisingly, I’ve learned a lot.”

“Sure” he held his arms behind his head as we walked. “But I don’t like that BakuBrat. If he gets mean, just let me know.”

“What are you going to do?” Toriga raised an eyebrow.

“I will roll up my sleeves and then tell Midoroya on him. Maybe he can beat him up for me”. 

We laugh at the absurdity of his response. Unbeknownst to us, Aizawa could hear us from way ahead and was smiling to himself.


	12. Coming Clean

”We’re very sorry for lying to you all.” Shedo spoke on behalf of the three of us before we polity bowed to our classmates.

”We hope you can come to forgive us for deceiving you.” I added.

”Oh, come on man!” Denki groaned. ”I thought we were quirk twins but you're MADE of electricity?! That's so much cooler than me!!” He went limp in his seat, head lazily drooped over the back of his chair.

“Tokoyami has some competition now.” Asui whisper to Mina.

Mina giggled back. “Right? I wonder how Shedo’s quirk works though?!”

“SO YOU CAN MAKE AND SHOOT ANY TYPE OF AMMUNITION?!” Sero stood over his desk, making extreme eye contact with Toriga.

She blushed and nodded.

“And you didn’t tell us because of Radical Inversive....” Eijiro tried to repeat the phrase.

“Radically Invasive Projectile,” Toriga responds shyly. “It a 9mm round capable of creating 9 different channels of spray fire upon contact. It’s known to pierce sheetrock and sheet metal and will increase its damage on impact.”

“You sure know a lot about your quirk.” Ojirou smiled at her.

Her faced heated up even more.

Shedo chuckled. “Once upon a time, our Toriga knew everything there was to know about bullets.”

“B-But I only use BBs and tranquilizers now! I swear!!”

“You should still show us that radically Invas- that bullet sometime! I want to see just how much damage it can do!” Sato cheered from the back. Toriga was surprised someone showed interest in the 

“Alright. That’s enough.” Aizawa spoke from his corner of the room. “We have a class believe it or not. Toriga you are excused. Remember we have training Monday.”

She nodded, grabbed her things, and left for her meeting with the counselor. 

The response we received from the class was beyond what we expected. They were excited as we explained the specifics of our quirk and weaknesses. Leaving out our “tragic backstories” we tried to be as honest as we could.

As I made my way to my desk in the back, I briefly got a glance irritated side-eye from Bakugo, although I shrugged this off as his normal look.

——————————————

Bakugo was training by himself outside the gym. I walked towards the gym and gave a small wave when I caught his eye. If he noticed, he acted like he didn’t and went back to what he was doing.

Now that our secret was out, I didn’t have to train in the chilly evening air and I could practice my quirk in one of the many small (room temperature) rooms.

Dropping my school bag on the ground, I took a few steps towards my reflection on the mirror wall in the room. I surveyed the person in front of me and thought about how “not” use to this I was being that the home had no use for mirrors.

I felt oddly serene knowing our friends and classmates responded so positively to our powers and the confession of our deceit.

In the isolation of the small and bright room, I closed my eyes and tried to tap into my internal source. I haven’t done this voluntarily in a very long time but I attempted to recall the feeling of the electricity flowing through my limbs.

I heard the hum of electricity grow into moderate toned chirps as I felt my arm phase into its electrical form. I opened my eyes and looked over my arm. The yellow and ice blue strings of electricity flung and whipped themselves around the electrical surge that took form of my arm. I smiled at the freeing feeling of no repercussions for using my quirk.

My joy was cut when the electricity quickly grew violent and raced up my arm. The surge started to swell drastically but I was able to cut the source before it could reach my shoulder. To my relief, my solid form was back to its normal state. My heart was still racing from the sudden surge of power. In the home, I was told by one of the doctors that I may never be able to return to my normal form if I turn every cell in my body to electricity. They believed my body used my blood cells as a memory source for when I turned my power off. If my solid form turns to complete lightning, I may never have my normal form again.

I squeezed my arm for dear life as I tried to steady my heart from the danger I could have put myself into.

“Oi.” An aggravated Bakugo called me from my thoughts.

I spun around in shock of the new unexpected presence that leaned against the door.

“Bakugo! Hi...” I greeted him awkwardly. “Hey, uh. How long have you been there?” I laughed nervously.

“Why did you lie to me?” He crossed his arms while keeping his piercing glare locked to my frantic look.

“Why did I... oh!” My eyes widened. “Of course. I’m sorry I held the truth from everyone but please understand I had my reasons.”

“Yeah? What?” He barked impatiently.

“It’s really hard to explain.”

He slam the door behind him as he marched further into the room. “Try me. I told you I hate when someone holds back in a fight with me, so I help you become a little bit stronger and find that you were still holding back. Why?” His glare still on me.

I kept my look to the floor. “I know. I’m sorry. Honestly, I was scared of myself. We were all raised in fear of our own quirks and were told to never use them. Because of that, I have no experience with control and I never want to hurt someone I care about. I hope you can understand.”

“Yeah?” He spoke with a calmer yet serious tone. “And just what kind of school did you even come from, anyway? You say you were raised in fear of your quirks and before that, I heard the emo tell Dunce Hair none of you have used your quirk “voluntarily” in years. What the hell are you hiding?”

A deep sigh escaped my lips. “I’m not sure if I can say anything about it.”

He huffed a laugh and rolled his eyes. “Then consider it you paying me back for teaching you how to actually fight for the past few days.”

He had a point. I have never learned so much about my quirk with anyone else than I have with his training.

“Only if you keep it between us.”

“What, you think I’m an idiot who can’t keep their mouth shut?” his glare returned.

I waved my hands in the air. ”No, no. Not at all. I'm only asking because there's still an open investigation with the police and they can't risk this info getting out without proof, ok?”

He raised his eyebrow at the mention of the police before lowering them back and rolling his eyes. “Fine. I won’t say anything.”

So, I took a deep breath and told him about the home and the kind of students who also attended. Through burning tears, I told him about how I ended up there and how I was treated in my during that time. Talking about this always brought the emotions out of me. Out of respect for Shedo and Toriga, I only talked about my personal experiences. While telling the story, we had both sat ourselves on the hardwood floor.

“That’s disgusting.” He bared his teeth.

“I know...” I clutched my arms crossed over my torso. “If it wasn’t for the pro heroes, I don’t know where we’d be right now.”

“Think they’ll find anything?”

“We’re not sure.” I pulled my knees closer to my chest. “Shedo said they came by after Thirteen ran and the Madam wiped the entire place clean. They found nothing.”

“So, what’re you going to do about it?”

I shrugged, glaring at the ground. “Do the same thing Thirteen did. Study, become a hero, and then stop this from happening to anyone ever again.” Thinking of what I wanted to do to that school made my blood boil. I would want to completely destroy it. Burn in from the inside out and blow it to pieces. And as for that god awful woman... 

“Careful with that dark look in your eyes.” His words pulled me out of my hateful haze. “Helping a bunch of kids is great and all, but remember what we do here.” He stood and extended his hand down to me.

“We’re here to help people and put away the ones who hurt those people. Just what do you think you’re going to do when you meet the old hag again?” I smiled up to him and accepted his hand.

He pulled me up to my feet. I took a second to think but couldn’t come up with answer. “Honestly, I don’t know. But, I’m hoping I’ll have the strength to do the right thing.”

He huffed an annoyed laugh. “Pretty vague answer, but we have a few more years for you to figure out what the hell the “right thing” is.”

His words of encouragement did not go unnoticed. I smiled to myself and looked him in the eye. I felt a small burst of joy in my chest and my smile grew. “I guess you’re right, Bakugo.”

-Bakugo-

She put a chill down my spine and I could feel the edges of my ears heat up. This idiot and her smiling lately. You would think someone whose been through the shit she has wouldn’t have the energy to grin so much, but she has been getting quite cozy with my other idiots and her happy-go-lucky attitude would probably be another pain in the ass to deal with.

Well, she hasn’t been much of a problem surprisingly. The most annoying thing she’s done was that sorry excuse of a fight she put up last week. But, she’s picked things up pretty quick and has even learned something about her quirk during our training.

I turned and walked towards the door. “Well, wipe that dumb look off your face and let’s see what this damn quirk of yours can do.”

She chuckled and her footsteps indicated she was following. “Ok.” She chirped.

Damn.


	13. Private Conversation

“Kick harder!” Bakugo yelled.

I swung another kick to the hanging sandbag Bakugo was standing behind, holding it still.

“I said harder, damnit! Not slower!” He yelled. “Do it again!”

I did another kick but hit the bag sloppily. I was getting exhausted with sweat covering my body.

“What the hell was that?! You’ve done this 50 times and you’re getting worse?! Do it again AND DO IT RIGHT!”

The aggravation building inside of me started to boil at Bakugo’s constant critiquing. I took a deep breath and swung the hardest kick I could. “I’m FUCKING TRYING DAMNIT!”

As my leg cut through the air, small zaps of electricity snapped around my shin right before I made contact with the bag. Bakugo saw my kick coming and calmly let go of the bag, letting it feel the full impact of my shin and violently flew to the left.

“Heh. Better.” He uttered, grabbing the bag to stop its pendulum.

“Holy crap, are you ok? I’m so sorry, I didn’t shock you did I?!” I sputtered through exhausted huffs.

“Right, like you could land a hit on me.” He mocked me with an arched eyebrow.

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah... you’re fine.” I took one last deep breath of air before plopping myself to the ground of the empty gym.

Bakugo and I continued to meet at the gym after classes. A lot of the times there would be other students training and doing their own thing, but today we had the honor of the gym to ourselves.

We didn’t really talk much outside of anything related to our training or sparring. Not that there was really much to discuss. Bakugo liked to omit from speaking about his personal life from absolutely anyone, which isn’t anything new. As for myself, after I told him about the home, he never brought it up again, which I was grateful for. There is still a lot of trauma I'm working through with my therapist and talking about that hell brought out the absolute worst of me. Bakugo told me before that my crying makes me look pathetic, so that could be the reason why he never brings it up, or he just doesn’t care. Either way, I’m just glad to have him as a training partner for both physical and quirk training.

It’s been a few weeks since I came clean to Bakugo and in that time I’ve gained a little muscle and a little more confidence in my control. The three of us had finally designed our hero costumes and wrote out our names. I wasn’t sure if Bakugo knew that I got the idea of Live Wire from him but, once again, it could just be that he doesn’t care about that kind of thing.

“Here.” He handed me a cold bottle of water out of his gym bag.

“Thanks, smells like nitroglycerin,” I smirked.

“WELL THAN DON’T DRINK IT. DEHYDRATE FOR ALL I CARE!” He barked.

I huffed a laugh and twisted the bottle open. I still hated yelling, but as I was around him more and more, I was able to tell the difference between the scornful screeching of the adults at the home, and the barking of a boy who didn’t know how to use his inside voice. I’m not saying it’s easy to be around, but it’s become bearable.

“Hey.” He huffed from his spot on a bench across from me.

I sat up a little and screwed the lid on the bottle shut. “What’s up?”

He stared down on me from his seat. Despite being about six or seven feet away, he still looked intimidating.

“What’s the deal with you and the red idiot lately? You two have been attached to each other like morons.”

I tilted my head. “I’m not sure what you mean...”

He rolled his eyes. “Forget it. I was just saying you two have been looking stupid.”

I thought back to last week when we were walking back from classes and I rode on Eji’s back. I was complaining about how my feet hurt from standing around during our quirk lecture.

Eiji flexed both his arms heroically. “I’ll save you, ma’am!” He stopped in front of me and squat a little, offering to let me ride his back. I giggled and jumped on. He jumped up and straightened himself out. “Wouldn’t be very manly of me to leave someone in distress!”

I remember my foot accidentally kicking Bakugo’s side when I jumped onto Eijiro. “Oh, sorry Bakugo.” He didn’t say anything but that’s just him I guess. I didn’t think much of it because Mina started to groan about wanting me to give her a back ride.

Or it could have been that time at lunch when Eijiro and I thought it would be funny to eat from each other's trays even though we had the exact same plate of food in front of us. We never touched our own food and just ate from the others.

“This carrot looks better than mine. I’m just gonna...” he muttered as he reached over me and took it.

“Nah I think this one looks better. Just let me...” and I reached over and took his.

“I totally get what both of you are saying but the true golden food is this fry,” Mina added, leaning over and taking one of Eiji’s fries. It went on like that for the entire lunch with the side mocking of our other friends, besides the ever annoyed Bakugo.

“Ooooh!” I realized. “That’s just how we are. The three of us were stupid in middle school and now that we go to school together again, it’s just us acting stupid again.” I explained.

“Sure.” He muttered before drinking from his bottle again.

And then it clicked what he meant. “OH! Oh no no no no no, it’s nothing like that.” I laughed. “I swear, I treat Mina the exact way I treat Eiji! We’re not dating or anything, god no. He’s just a super awesome friend.”

He stiffened before snapping his head back towards me. “THAT’S NOT WHY I WAS ASKING, DUMBASS!”

The annoyed look on his face was too funny to ignore making me crack up even more.

“What the hell is your problem?!” He stood up into his signature “I’m going to kill you” pose with his cheeks and ears turning pink.

I tried to calm down and took a few breaths. “I’m sorry. Hahah oh geez I’m sorry.” I wiped the tears from my eyes. “Just how defensive you can get is funny to me sometimes. I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time.” I took another deep calming breath and stood up, grabbing my things. “I swear, you have to be one of my favorite people, Bakugo. I should head out though, Denki wanted to have another movie night in the lounge. You should join.... us?”

Looking up for my bag, I saw he was already walking towards the door.

“Oh, um. Bye? Thanks for the training.”

He gave a small wave without looking back. I didn’t know he left to hide the red tinge on his face.


	14. Facing It

Another day in 1-A prior to our classes. All of our fellow students were standing around talking to their friends. Normally I would be with Eiji and his friends, with the occasional addition of Shedo or Toriga, but today I found myself talking to some of Shedo’s friends. Midoroya, Todoroki, and Shedo all gathered around Todoroki’s desk talking about how our quirk training was going.

“Hey, Suto?” Midoriya asked. “Shinsou from the General Studies courses said he saw you training with Bakugo a lot lately. Are.... things going ok?” He asked with a sincere look that told me he was a little worried.

“Ok? Yeah, everything’s fine.” I waved my hand. “He’s been an awesome teacher when it comes to controlling my more powerful attacks. Sure he yells a lot but I’m used to it, but it also pushes me to do better!”

“I still don’t like him or the idea of you spending time alone with him.” Shedo squinted at me. “He’s an impulsive idiot!”

———————————————-  
-Bakugo-

Those morons around Icyhot’s desk were talking loud enough for the whole class to hear them. My ears perked as the conversation brought up me training Sutomu. Damn Zombie needs to mind his own business.

“I still don’t like him or the idea of you spending time alone with him. He’s an impulsive idiot!”

I clenched my fists and just before I could turn around and scream at the emo ‘I’ll show you impulsive’ Sutomu cut into the conversation.

“Shedo, would you stop?! Yes I know he acts on impulses sometimes but I’ve learned a lot from him! He’s taking time out of his own training to help me with mine. He’s an awesome teacher who has given me more confidence in my quirk than ever before. You don’t have to like my decisions but I need you to respect them!”

I felt my ears heat up. The idiot was defending me. I could have handled it but she cut in and shut that scarface down even though they were close friends. It confused me.

“Don’t worry, Shedo,” Midoriya added in. “Suto is right, although Kacchan does get a little reckless with his quirk, he has perfect control over it. Suto is in good hands.”

“Tch. Besides, he’s not an idiot. Last I checked he did way better than you on the hero’s laws quiz.” She mocked him.

“W-whatever!” He stuttered. “Fine. I’ll respect you descison BUT I WON’T LIKE IT! If I see him get too violent with you during your trainings than I’m Nightmaring his ass.”

“Yeah. Ok, Shedo.” She spoke with sarcasm.

“It’s very honorable of you to defend Bakugo, Sutomu,” Todoroki spoke in his annoyingly soft tone.

Emo scarface scoffed. “Seriously, if I didn’t know any better, I would think you had a crush on him.”

The heat on my ears grew even hotter and my heart raced as I tried to focus in more on their conversation.

“Geez, what’s up with you man?” Sero turned from his conversation with Kirishima. “You sick or something, your face is super red.”

Denki turned and looked over. He burst into laughter making it impossible to hear her response. “Oh my god! You look like a tomato!”

I growled when I noticed the group behind me had moved on with their conversation. I growled. “I’M FINE YOU IDIOTS, DO YOU EVER STOP TALKING?!”

They laughed at my outburst, much to my aggravation and moved their conversation to involve me. Kirishima looked from my heated exterior to the group behind me then back to me. Sharkboy looked as though he wanted to say something but shook his head muttering ”no, that's ridiculous” to himself before going back to the conversation.

On the way to our next class, I sent the dork a text confirming our training after class. Icyhot and ponytail bought the three their own cellphones. I remember being in the lounge when they received them and the crying blubbering mess they became because of it.

-”Sure! I just have to drop off some things at my dorm and grab my gym clothes!”

I rolled my eyes and texted back.

-”Seriously, it shouldn't be a surprise to you by now! Just keep them in your school bag!!”

-”Noooooo. Then there would be no room for my other stuff”

”THEN DON’T BRING HALF YOUR DAMN ROOM TO CLASS!!”

”You texting Suto?” Kirishima hooked an arm around my neck as we were walking.

“WOULD YOU MIND YOUR OWN DAMN BUSINESS?!” I glared.

He backed up with both hands in the air in defense. “Woah man, chill just a question. Geez, you never get this defensive over your phone.”

“I’m making sure she still wants me to train her today!! Otherwise, I would just go straight to sleep after class!”

“Ok, ok. Sorry for invading your privacy.” He rubbed his neck. “Suto has been getting extremely better with her quirk. Whatever you're doing is working.”

I huffed a laugh and pocketed my phone. “Duh. I’m training her. Of course, there would be results.”

“Yup. Sure have been spending a lot of time with her.” I side-eyed him at the meaning of his words.

“And what is that suppose to mean?” I looked back in front of me and continued to walk casually.

“I just mean, she has a very magnetic aura. People are naturally drawn to her. I wouldn’t be surprised if she considers you one of her closest friends by now.” He huffed a laugh. “Not closer than me of course.” He joked.

“What of it?” I rolled my eyes.

“Woah. You’re not going to disagree with me? You like her?”

My eye twitched and I snapped my glare to him.

“Would you shut the hell up?! It isn’t like that, Dumbass!”

He groaned. “Chill man. I meant you like her as a friend. Man, you are defensive today. Woke up on the wrong side of the bed or something?”

I relaxed my shoulders and walked faster. “Whatever.”

I walked ahead of the rest of the guys and turned into the classroom.

-Kirishima-

“Dude, he’s total into her,” Denki whispered to me and Sero.

I looked at Denki curiously. “You think? Nah, I don’t think so.”

“Yeah, you saw how angry he was about that sparring match between him and Suto. I’m sure there’s nothing more to it.” Sero added. “But, if it was true, I can’t imagine how you would feel about it Kirishima. She’s one of your closest friends and Bakugo is... Bakugo.”

I thought about it as we stood outside the class. “Huh. I don’t really know what I would think about it.”

As we entered the classroom, I sat next to Bakugo and thought about it. In some parallel universe where Bakugo is romantically interested in anyone, I’m not sure how I would feel about it if he wanted Suto. Sure he’s basically my best bro, but Suto comes from a really difficult background and Bakugo’s violent nature does not seem like something she needs to be around after that. Although she has made tremendous progress in her healing, there is still a lot that she is dealing with. Also, she is like a little sister to me and no man would ever be good enough for her as long as I’m around.

But still, I’m not sure how I would feel about it.

—————————————-

-Bakugo-

It was lunch and I was sitting with the normal idiots. Pikachu, stupid hair, raccoon eyes, tape arms, Emo, gun girl, and sparky.

I was eating my food in silence while casually listening in to the conversation they morons were going on about. Denki was being as stupid as ever when he threw his hands up in the air while telling his story about All Might knows what and hit my head.

“Oh, shoot. Sorry man, you good?” He casually.

I snapped my look towards him and growled. “WOULD YOU CALM THE FUCK DOWN, THUNDER-DOLT!”

Suto, who was drinking her water, spit it out from laughing so hard. My angry look wiped off my face as I felt warmth inside my chest from her laugh. Probably nausea from her terrible table etiquette.

“Oh my god, Thunder-Dolt! I’ve never heard that one before. I love it!” She tried to breathe in between laughs. The others laughed at her outburst. I looked back down at my food, unaware of the small smirk on my face from hearing her reaction to my insult. Her laugh isn’t that annoying as the other girls.

“Oh. OH!!!” Kirishima stood up from his seat in front of me. “Oh! You- You!!” He pointed at my face quickly looked in between me and Sutomu. “Oh my god, you totally- mphhhh!!!”

I reacted quickly and put a hand over Kirishima’s face and dragged his struggling form out of the cafeteria and into one of the nearest bathrooms.

I let go of him in the, thankfully, empty bathroom and he pushed a couple of feet away from me.

“Would you shut the fuck up!” I scolded him.

“DUDE! YOU DO HAVE A CRUSH ON SUT-“ I quickly covered his mouth again.

“Would you lower your fucking voice!”

He pushed my hand away. ”Ok, ok. Sorry.” He leaned in and whispered. “You do have a crush on Sutomu!!”

I rolled my eyes as the heat returned to my face once again. “Would you shut up! I told you it isn’t like that!”

“Hahaha duuuuude, you weren’t sick, you’ve just been blushing all day like a school girl!” He laughed.

“I swear to god if you do not shut up I will blast you into so many pieces no one will ever be able to put you back together!!”

He tried to calm his laughter with deep breaths. “Ok, I’m sorry. I’m overreacting. I just never thought that you would ever have a crush on anyone. I didn’t think you had a normal guy thought in your head!”

I clenched my grip on my crossed arms as my glared burned stronger.

“Does she know?” He asked once he had gotten himself together.

I thought about it and groaned. “I don’t know! I couldn’t hear what she said this morning because of you idiots!”

He grinned like an idiot. “I knew you were listening in to that!” His grin dropped as quickly as it came. “Oh my god, did you just admit you have a crush on her?”

We heard the door creak open. I snapped my head around and saw two guys try to walk in. They made eye contact with me and ran off once they saw my ‘Go the fuck away’ glare.

I turned around to him. “And so what if I do? What are you going to do about it?”

He rolled his eyes at me and sat on the counter next to the sink.

“Give it a rest dude. You don’t always have to pull the tough guy act. I’m not judging you on having normal guy thoughts.” He side-eyed me and squinted. “To a certain point, that is.”

I huffed and leaned myself against the wall, arms still crossed.

“Dude, listen. You have no idea what kind of things Sutomu has been through. She’s seen a lot of bullshit and is still dealing with-“

“I know.”

“Y-you know?”

“She told me about that shit shack she was imprisoned in.”

“She told... wow.” He blinked. “I thought she only trusted me and Mina with that. If she trusted you with- you know what, nevermind.” He hopped off the counter. “My point is, she is still dealing with a lot of it, so I’m not sure if a relationship is exactly on her mind right now.” He patted my shoulder as he walked past me. “Funny thing, I was actually wondering to myself today how I would feel if you had feelings for her.”

“...and?” I asked while still facing the other way.

“Surprisingly. I don’t think I would mind it. You’re not as bad of a guy as you make yourself out to be, and it seems Sutomu would agree with me.” He opened the door. “I’m going back to lunch. I won’t say anything to anyone, dude. Just remember what I said, ok?”

He left and let the door shut behind him. I looked up to a mirror across from me and noticed the softer look on my face.

“The fuck are you looking at?” I glared at my own reflection before leaving the bathroom.


	15. My Friends are Crackheads

First thing in the morning, we were called into Principal Nezu’s office. We didn’t have the slightest clue as to why but seeing as how smoothly things have been going with school and our classwork, we weren’t too worried about anything. Classes weren’t due to start for another hour by the time we approached the solid oak doors. Shedo placed a small knock on the doors, Nezu’s voice called us in, and Shedo pushed the doors opened.

The first thing we noticed was the chief of police we spoke with on our first night. After acknowledging the presents of the tall dog-faced man, we noticed Thirteen standing opposite to him on the other side of Nezu’s desk.

“THIRTEEN!” We all cried. We burst into a run and ran into Thirteen’s open arms.

She laughed while hugging us both. “Hey, kids! How have you been?”

“Amazing!” Toriga answered, her face covered in tears. “Everyone here has been so nice, we’ve made so many friends, and learned so much!”

“I have so much I want to show you with my quirk!” Shedo spoke with excitement. “I can move heavier objects now and- and-“ he sniffled while wiping his eyes from tears.

Thirteen laughed again. “That’s great to hear! I can’t wait for you all to show me your refined quirks in Rescue Training.”

“Reduce training?” I asked, wiping the rolling tears from my face.

“Did you not know? I’m the instructor for U.A’s Rescue Training. It’s been under reconstruction until lately, but now I’m back and everything is ready so we’ll be getting back to things very soon.”

“You’re going to be our professor?!” Shedo’s eyes widened.

She gave brief nod as an affirmative. My eyes widen, realizing we haven’t seen her since she helped us and we never thanks her.”

“Thirteen, we never had the chance to thank you!” I added, stepping back.

“That will have to wait until after, Miss Sutomu,” Nezu added. “Chief Tsuragamae has dropped by and asked to speak with you kids regarding the investigation on your previous home.”

I felt myself grow in unease, as I’m sure it did for the other two.

“Kids, would you please take a seat?” The chief of police asked of us.

The sound of his tone insinuated that he did not come with good news. The three of us sat down in the chairs in front of Nezu’s desk with great anticipation for what he had to say.

He cleared his throat. “Let me just start off by saying, we did everything in our power to inspect the entire building as well as question all the students living there as well...”

“Oh no...” Shedo muttered while bending over in his chair to hide his face in his hands. “You didn’t find anything, did you?” His voice echoed into his cupped palms.

“What?” Toriga grew frantic. “No! That can’t be it, right?!”

The chief deeply sighed before continuing his statement. “Unfortunately, we found nothing. Absolutely everything was up to code.”

“No...” Toriga’s voice shook as the tears grew quickly to her face. “But... the others... they have to keep living there then?”

“From what we’ve seen, there is no reason to believe the other children are being mistreated.” He sighed again. “So the prefecture cannot take any action. I’m sorry.”

“But that’s not right! We told you everything that we went through! Isn’t that enough to incarcerate that god awful woman?!” I argued.

He shook his head softly. “I'm sorry, but our justice system cannot imprison someone or shut down an orphanage without evidence presented to the police. Testimonies are not enough in an investigation like this.” He politely bowed.

I shot out of my seat and held my ground. “But we weren’t lying! We’re not being sent back there, right Principal Nezu?” I looked to him with pleading eyes.

“Now now, Miss Sutomu. No one is calling you three a liar and no one has to worry about leaving. CPS placed you into our care with the prefecture being your legal guardian. As far as we are concerned, you are all staying here.”

The three of us let out a deep breath in relief.

“So that’s it?” Shedo leaned back into his chair. “Case closed? We all go on with our lives like nothing is wrong?”

“Not exactly.” Chief Tsuragamae spoke. “Like I said, the place was absolutely to code and we have no reason to believe there is any mistreatment occurring. But, that has not been sitting right with me.”

Our disappointed forms straightened a little at his curious tone.

“With child homes like that, there is always one or two safety violations. Normally small ones such as a bed to close to a radiator or toys littered near an exit. This place... it was 100% up to code. Which raises a lot of suspicion with me.”

“So... what now then?” Toriga asked.

“This case is considered closed by the Musutafu PD, but I will personally continue to look into things. I have requested CPS to increase the rate of surprise inspections. With any luck, we’ll catch them off guard.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Shedo asked.

“Not at this point in time.” Thirteen placed her hand on his shoulder. “But I will continue to work with the Chief to catch the Madam red-handed.

“So, what? We just keep sitting on our hands?” I crossed my arms. “We swore to help the others! You have to let us help!”

“I’m sorry, Sutomu.” The Chief answered me. “You are just minors who are under the care of another facility. As far as the Japanese government is considered, there is nothing more to do for this case. But please do not worry, I will make it my personal duty to see to it this all comes to light.”

His response did not make me feel any better. If anything, it made me angrier. I understood the Chief was still under government protocol, but the fact that terrible woman is able to walk free, tormenting children, for another day made my blood boil.

“I think it’s time to get you three back to class.” Thirteen spoke with a somber tone. “Come on, I’ll walk you myself.”

We stood up, thanked the chief for his efforts, and followed Thirteen out the door.

“It will be ok, kids.” She spoke with a dark tone. “I’m just as angry as you three, but I will not stop until that woman is taken down.”

We didn’t respond but still acknowledged her sentiment. We continued to walk down the different halls in silence until Shedo spoke up.

“Thank you, Thirteen. For coming back and helping us.”

My ears perked and I slowed my pace to walk closer with Thirteen.

“Of course. I promised you I would come back for you, didn’t I? I’m sorry it took so long though. After I escaped, I was found by a U.A. professor who took me here to become a hero. I studied and studied to become a pro so I could have some influence to take down that school. Unfortunately, the investigations were always closed with no resolve.”

“But they attacked you!” Toriga added. “Isn’t that enough to arrest someone?.”

Thirteen shook her head. “They reported you three missing the next day, tried to make it look like I kidnapped you, and then claimed it was ‘self-defense’ to ‘keep you safe’... bullshit.” She whispered that last part.

Shedo playfully nudged her to lift her spirit a little.

“Oh, uh. Pretend you didn’t hear that, please?”

She walked us back to class with a promise we would see her again when the rescue courses started again. We said our goodbyes and joined the rest of our class, still minutes before it was due to start.

“Hey, there you three are!” Eji waved from his desk. “We missed you during breakfast, where did you go?”

“Sorry, Kiri. We’re not having the best day right now.” I continued to walk past his desk and to my own.

“What’s wrong? You only call me that when you’re upset.”

“Just, not right now, please? I’ll talk to you later, alright?”

Seeing the look in my eyes, he could tell something big was up. His look grew softer and he verbally confirmed we would talk after classes.

I sat at my desk and put my head down. I didn’t know how I was going to get through today without crying.

My phone buzzed in my bag. Thinking it was Ejirou asking me if I was alright again, I took it out to respond. Unlocking my phone, I noticed the text notification came from Bakugo asking ‘What the hell is your problem?’.”

Another small smile grew on my face and wrote out a response.

‘They didn’t find anything.’

Hoping that was enough, I put my phone back in my bag. Out of curiosity, I observed him to see if he would even care or understand what I meant. He stared at the screen of his phone for a few seconds. I noticed his grip tightened around his phone before shoving it back into his pocket and crossing his arms.

Maybe I misjudged him, maybe he does care about this whole thing after all. 

—————————————

As we finished our last classes for the day, the three of us walked towards our dorms with our heads down low.

I had previously texted Bakugo to inform him I wasn’t feeling up to training today and would join him again tomorrow. He didn’t respond, but the “seen” under the message tells me know was aware..

Ejirou caught up to the three of us, eager with his questions.

“Ok, you have to tell me what’s up now. You three have been all down and stuff all day! What happened?”

“They didn’t find anything, Kiri.” I sighed.

His eyes furrowed and he threw his hands in the air. “What the fuck? Nothing?!”

“You don’t have to worry about it, man,” Shedo added. “Thirteen came back and said she would keep working with the police on this.”

“Oh! Thirteen is back? Wait,” he shook his head, getting back to the subject. “that’s not my question. What are you guys going to do now?”

Toriga sighed. “There’s nothing we can do.”

A dark thought rung through my head. “We could always-“ I stopped myself, knowing how no one would agree with me.

“Hm? You say something, Suto?” Eji asked.

I shook off the thought. “No, sorry. Just talking to myself.”

The idea of us taking on the madam on our own was a stupid one. We’d be endangering our lives, the others, and our chances of staying with U.A. and our friends. It wasn’t worth it.

We all went to our separate dorms to mope for the rest of the day. At least I wanted to, but Ejiro continued to follow me to my room and sat next to me on my bed. I leaned back and stared at my ceiling.

“Hey, I have an idea.” He spoke up, leaning back to lie down next to me. “How about I take you out this weekend? We can go get food, say hi to my mom, go watch a movie? It could be like a fun little date!”

My face reddened. I quickly sat up and looked down at him.

“E-Ejirou!” I scolded him.

His face reddened to and he sat up just as quickly. “N-No! Not like a real date! Just a friend date! Jeez Sutomu! I didn’t mean it like that!” He yelled, embarrassment evident on his face. “Damn, you’re like my little sister. Fucking chill!”

“Well, can you blame me for thinking that?! You don’t just ask someone if they want to go on a date!”

“You know what I meant!”

We looked at each other's red faces. His features soften, red still on his face.

“Maybe we should kiss to break the tension?” He spoke quietly.

We looked at each other before erupting with laughter.

“EJIROU!” I gasped between laughs.

“I COULDN’T HELP IT! YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN HOW RED YOU WERE!”

“Fuck off!” I wiped my eyes. “Damn I haven’t seen that movie in years.”

“Well, then let’s watch it at my parent’s house this weekend! My mom has been dying to see you since I told her you came back.”

“Aw, I miss your mom’s cooking!”

“Then I’ll ask her to make something when we come over. What do you miss the most?”

“...” 

“.... the beef stroganoff?” He sighed.

I smiled and shook my head.

“Of course, why did I ask.” He rolled his eyes. “Oh uh. I should probably confess something to you, just don’t get mad?”

I leaned back a little. “Um, sure?”

“So, when I first told my mom you were back, she was all super excited and stuff but then she started asking a lot of questions I couldn’t answer about where you were and I, kind of told her.” He flinched at the last part.

“Did you tell anyone else?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No! I swear to Crimson Riot I would never tell anyone else! But you know how my mom can be! She adored you and she was so sad you left!”

I sighed but kept a smile on my face. “I’m not exactly thrilled that you told someone, Eji. But it’s your mother and yes I know how she can be. Just please, don’t talk to anyone else about this?”

He crossed his heart. “Cross my heart, hope to die...” he held out his pinkie finger.

I giggled. “Mina’s acid in my eye.” We said in unison before I wrapped my pinkie around his.

Mina wasn’t excited about our pinkie swear phrase but she wasn’t against the idea of throwing acid in the face of someone who dare break a ‘pinkie’ promise!

“Are you sure you want to stay in here all day? Or~ do you want to break into Denki’s room and play his video games?” Eji raises his eyebrow.

“It would be an honor to do so with my date!” I giggled.

“Cool! I think he’s downstairs with the others so we can sneak over.

Down one floor and a couple doors over, we snuck into his room and started his system.

“This might be more fun with the rest of the guys.” I nudged Eji.

“Yeah, you’re right. Got your phone?”

I held it up.

“Cool, go to the group chat and watch this.”

I opened the chat with me, Jirou, Denki, Eji, Bakugo, Mina, and Sero.

Ejirou took a picture of Denki’s turned on television with the consoles main menu screen displayed. He snickers to himself before sending the picture to the group.

Denki - ‘HEEEEY!”

Jirou - ‘oh shit, game night at Denki’s!’

Denki - ‘get out of my room!’

Sero - ‘I kept a 12 pack of soda waiting for the day we steal his tv! Omw!’

Mina - ‘WE NEED POPCORN. ONE SEC!’

Denki - ‘FINE! BUT I PLAY FIRST!’

Ejirou - ‘Sorry dude, I’m playing Suto first.’

Jirou - ‘oh damn. Suto ‘s there? Hell yeah!’

Mina - *gaaaaaaaasssssp* IF SUTO IS THERE THEN ILL BE THERE EVEN SOONER! DAMN POPCORN TAKES FOREVER!’

We started to snicker at our crazy friends. Before long, Jirou and Denki burst through the door. They were laughing hard while trying to catch their breaths.

“No losers allowed. Git!” Jirou laughed while weakly trying to push Denki out.

“No, fuck you this is my room!” He laughed back.

“I had a 24 pack!!” Sero pushed through the door, hitting Denki in the back of the head with it by accident.

“Ow dude. Wait, more soda? Hell yeah!” He high fived Sero.

“Popcorn is here~~” Mina sang as she entered the room. “Suto, I nearly ran over Deku and Todoroki on the way here so you better love me for the express delivery, babe.”

“Of course, My Mina!” I used my childhood name for her.

She faked sobbed. “Oh, I missed that.” Her eyes locked with Sero’s who was sitting next to me. She glared at him with fire in her eyes and growled, “SERO FUCKING MOVE IT IM SITTING NEXT TO SUTO!”

Sero laughed at Mina’s look and moved over. She plopped her self next to me and everyone made a grab for the popcorn.

I loved my new friends so much and the gift they had to always make me laugh or smile. After the fighting for what game to play first and who would play it first, we started the game which included all of us yelling at whoever was playing to ‘do it better’. I was very involved until I got a personal text from Bakugo.

‘Take it your feeling better now if the dumbasses are with you.’

I smiled to myself and texted back. ‘Yeah. I love our crackhead friends :3.’

After a minute or so, he only responded with an eye roll emoji.

After an hour, Bakugo swung the door open and glared down at everyone.

“Oh shiiit, Bakugo wants to battle!” Sero chuckled.

“THE HELL I DO! You guys are too damn loud! I can’t sleep with all this noise!”

“Dude, it’s not even nine. Just come hang out with us!” Eji waved him in.

Bakugo took one quick glance at me before grumbling to himself and sitting on the edge of the bed with Denki and Jirou.

I received the worst news just this morning, but with friends like these, I couldn’t bring myself to think on it for long.


	16. The Other Day

-Kirishima-

“Need to pick up anything on the way there?”

“No, I should be fine. Your mom knows to expect us right?” Suto raised an eyebrow.

”Yeah, she knows. The woman is so excited, I think shes prefer us to run there.” I sighed.

“Hey Sutomu, Kirishima! Where are you two off to?” Denki greeted us in the lobby of the dorms, seated next to our other friends eating a late lunch.

“Hey, guys. Suto and I are going out for a few hours.” I explained.

“On a daaaaaate.” Mina giggled mischievously.

My eyes quickly skimmed over Bakugo’s features. He was getting that dark look in his squinted eyes, so I tried to shut down the misinterpretation quickly.

“No, Mina.” Suto spoke before I could. “Ejirou is just taking me to go have dinner with his mom.”

“Ha, yeah she missed her like crazy.” I huffed a laugh.

“Oh boo.” Mina groaned, crossing her arms. “You would think with all the boys and girls in our class, SOMEONE would be dating by now!”

“Have fun, guys.” Jirou ignored Mina’s odd complaint and waved to us.

“Will do, we’ll catch you guys later tonight!” Suto waved back.

I took one last glance at Bakugo before turning and following Suto out the building. Although we’re just going out as friends on a small outing, I couldn’t help but feel bad for the guy. I would hate for him to think I would try to go under his nose like that.

I pulled out my phone quickly and shot him a quick text letting him know we’re just friends who are hanging out and there’s nothing for him to worry about.

‘I don’t care what you do with your friends. Stop texting me.’

I chuckled at my friend’s brooding personality but i’m glad he understood.

“Everything alright?” Suto nudged me.

“Yeah, it’s fine.” I nudged her back. “You alright with taking the subway, by the way? It gets pretty crowded around this time.”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” She smiled sweetly. “I would gladly be pressed against a crowd of smelly sweaty people if it meant I can eat your mother’s cooking again!”

I snort a laugh. “Dork.”

Through out the rest of the evening, I made it a point to be a complete gentleman to her so she could experience what it’s like to go out with a decent guy. After the discussion I had with Bakugo the other day, I realized the lack of exposure she’s had around guys in a dating scene. I trust her judgment, but I worry she’ll end up letting some jackass walk all over her. I want her to know exactly what being treated right was like so she’ll know not to settle for anything less. Because “anything less” would get one hell of an asswhooping by me.

I held doors open for her, walked on the inside of the sidewalk closest to the street, and when we went on the over crowded subway, I made sure she was against the wall with me facing towards her. I’m sure she can hold her own, but if I caught some random jerk trying to cop a feel on Suto, or any woman for that matter, I would have to break the assholes arms and I didn’t want to explain the necessity for violence to Aizawa and Principal Nezu.

Nonetheless, Suto seemed to appreciate the small sentiments and commented I was a chivalrous as always. I just smiled back and told her I was just doing what any real man should do.

——————————————

-Bakugo-

‘Hey man, just want you to know I’m just taking Suto to say hi to my mom. We’re just hanging out as friends.’

Kirishima’s message was sent within seconds of them walking out the door. I clenched my jaw. This idiot thought I was jealous or something?

I quickly sent out my response and shoved my phone back into my pocket. I let my guard down the other day at lunch and said somethings I didn’t think I actually cared for. Sure we’ve been spending more time training together, and her stupid laugh wasn’t as annoying as other girls, and her determination to better herself was admirable, and sure, she was a little cute, but I cringe at myself every night thinking how pathetic I probably sounded speaking with the red idiot in the bathroom.

I had my doubts about this ‘just friends’ business. They way those two act around each other is so obnoxious and even worse when the pink one gets involved. Ugh just thinking about how she acted when she first saw his hero costume annoyed me.

_“Holy hell, Ejirou!” She gaped, running to the dressed up Red Riot. She looked him up and down before further loosing her mind. “When did you get so hot?!”_

_He chuckled. “You like it? Completely inspired by the man Crimson himself!” He heroically flexed for her._

_She sarcastically swooned. “Oh I can tell. But where did all this come from?” She poked his pecks and then his abs making him flinch both times._

_She continued to poke him on all of his visible muscles making him chortle, trying to stop her finger tips from tickling him further._

_“S-stop, Sutomu! You know I h-hate being tickled!”_

_She giggled but obliged. “You look great, Eji. Very manly!”_

I rolled my eyes at the memory. I’m NOT jealous, just annoyed that a woman could openly compliment a close friend like that and not call it flirting.

_“I swear, you have to be one of my favorite people, Bakugo.”_

Her words rung in my ears. She says the stupidest things sometimes, but that was when all of _this_ started. I don’t care what anyone else thinks of me but her weird excuse of a compliment got an unfamiliar reaction out of me. I still remember the heat on my ears as I quickly left the situation. After that, I started to notice things about her.

The next time I met her for training, I still had that stupid compliment on my mind. Then Sutomu asked if we could spar together.

_“You want to go head to head with me?” I looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. She was only a couple inches shorter but the difference was there._

_She shrugged. “Well yeah, I haven’t felt this great in ever! I’m up to it!” She took some swings in the air. “Let’s go, I can take you.”_

The beads of sweat rolling down her shoulders caught my attention. This girl has been working harder than any of the idiots she hangs out with. She’s taken the time after classes to keep working out and practicing her quirk, which was more than I can say about anyone else.

Speaking of, her quirk has become noticeable stronger, too. After showing her how to control the bigger attacks, she’s was more confident in her usage of it. I remember the first time she showed me her power after coming clean about her true abilities. As we worked on her aim, she didn’t notice her hands had dissolved. I had to cut her practice short when I called got her to stop. She was confused until I grabbed her forearm and showed her wrist was barley left. Whenever she gets to this point, whatever was left of her arms would look as if her arm was cut clean off, but her cut was covered in a sheet of electricity that zapped and chirped as her body tried to replenish her cells.

Another time, when she was practicing her ground attacks, she lost up to the middle of her shin. I rolled my eyes at her negligence. I wrapped her arm around my neck and helped her hop to a bench against the wall of the gym. She thanked me and waited till I was a good distance away before removing one of her metal chopsticks from her hair and shoving it into a socket by her seat. A sudden jolt rung through her body, but the shock regained her limb as visible electricity ran circles down her leg, repairing it as it went. She pulled the chopstick out of the wall and placed it back in her hair.

_“Never leave home without one.” She giggled._

_“Great. Are you done for the day?” I crossed my arms._

_“Probably should.” She took a towel from her gym bag and swept it over her forehead followed by the rest of her body. I found myself focusing on the towel as she wiped the sweat around her sports bra._

_“Are you done?” Her voice pulled me out of my thoughts. Oh shit, she noticed._

_“What?” I snapped my look her in the eyes, wondering how I would talk myself out of staring at a woman’s breast._

_“Are you done for the day?” She repeated. A wave of relief washed over me knowing she didn’t notice my moment of weakness. I’m a 16-year-old guy after all._

_“Yeah. I’ll grab my bag.”_

_We occasionally would walk back to the dorms together. Not much would be said between us, but I knew her favorite part of training was walking out into the cold air afterward. I still remember the odd moment when she bumped into my shoulder by accident as we walked. She apologized and looked back down at her phone. I was annoyed she had her phone out when she was around someone, and bumped her shoulder back. She looked up at me with a questionable glance, but I held my attention in front of me, trying to hide the smirk._

_In my peripheral vision, I saw her pocket her phone and placed her hands behind her back as we walked._

_“Did I ever thank you by the way?” She asked, leaning forward to look me in the eye._

_I groaned. “Yes, multiple times.”_

_She giggled. “Well, I’m still incredibly thankful. I don’t think I would have ever learned control like I have if you didn’t take me on.”_

_I hummed a response. She thanks me for this a lot, so I only ever have the one response._

_“You’re not as bad as some of the other students say. Sure you can be a little loud at times, but you’ve been super cool with me.”_

_“Yeah? Well, you’re not as stupid as the rest of them.” I uttered, shoving my hands in my pockets._

_“Was that a compliment, Kacchan?” She prodded me._

_I snapped my glare to her. Making her jump a little before giggling again._

_“I-I’m sorry, I was just teasing. I know you don’t like that. Sorry.”_

_I looked back out in front of us. “Whatever. Take it as you’d like.”_

_“Then I’ll take it as a compliment. Oh. Careful.” She wrapped a hand around my bicep and pulled me closer to her._

_“WHAT THE-“_

_“Chill, you almost stepped on a snail. You’re welcome.”_

_I looked back and saw that there was, in fact, a snail crawling its way through my path._

_“Stupid armor slug.”_

Even now, I can still feel the print of her hand burn on the skin of my under arm.

“You alright, Bakugo?” Earlobes asked from amongst the group. “You’ve been zoning out for a while and now your face is all red.

Damnit. I stood up and left with an excuse I had a headache from hearing them talk. I hated the idea of blushing over some girl, but that “some girl” was Sutomu. The stupid pale blonde, oddly cheery, Sutomu


	17. Nostalgia

-Sutomu-

The afternoon spent with Eiji’s mom was such an emotional experience. The second Ejirou opened the door, his mother came screaming at me and pulled me into a tight hug which I gladly returned.

Dinner was already made and ready. She eagerly led us to the table and we caught up over the amazing beef stroganoff she made.

“Sutomu, how have you been feeling? Have things been alright for you, after-“

“Mom..” Eiji muttered in a warning tone before sticking the fork of beef into his mouth.

“Oh, right. I’m so sorry.” She lovingly placed her hand on my wrist. “That reminds me, please don’t be upset at Eijiro for telling me. I was being very intrusive because I heard you were back and after what became of your house... I hope you can’t blame me.”

I smiled at her. “It’s ok, Ms. Kirishima. I’m not upset and I’m doing ok. Eiji and Mina have been amazing with helping me cope with the change.”

“Of course, me and his father raised Eijiro to always think of others. I’m sorry he couldn’t be here tonight by the way. His work called in but he told me to let you know he wish he could have been here, but he might be here in a few hours.”

“We’ll try to stick around long enough, Mom, but we have to return to the dorms before curfew.”

“Oh, speaking of.” She looked back to me. “After you graduate, and if you can’t find somewhere to stay right away, or even if you find out U.A. isn’t for you, you are more then welcome to move into here. We would love to have you around again.”

I didn’t know what to say. My best friend’s parents were giving me the option of having a home. I looked over to the smiling Eiji and I could tell he knew about this. He nudged my shoulder.

“Then I would really be your big brother.”

They weren’t offering me just a home. They were offering me a family. A loving, caring, and accepting family. It took all of me to hold back my emotions, but I smiled and accepted their offer.

After dinner, Eiji and I went up to his room to have our movie night like old times. Eijiro opened the door for me, and I took in my surroundings as I walked passed him. I was already swelling with emotions from dinner, but looking around the room I spent so much time in, and never thought to see again, the tears started to flood into my vision.

He didn’t have to see me to know how I must have been feeling. He shut the door behind me and pulled me into his arms so I can cry my overwhelming emotion out. He didn’t say anything and just hugged me as long as I needed him to.

One movie later, Eiji and I decided we should probably head back to the dorms before it got to dark. I greeted his father on our way out and bid his parents goodbye with the promise we would do this again soon and often. 

As we walked to the train station, Eiji violently hooked his arm around my neck and pulled me close.

“Feel like crying again?” He joked.

“Eiji!” I choked with a laugh. “Let go, you ass!”

He pulled me into tighter choke hold. “What did you call me, nerd?”

He loosened his grip and I lightly shoved him off.

“Who are you? Bakugou?” I smirked.

Eijiro made claws out of his hands with the palms up turned. “What did you call me, you extra?!” He growled in his best Bakugou voice.

I laughed even harder and lightly smacked his chest. “Oh stop, that’s not nice.”

“Yeah, because Bakugou is such a saint right?” He side eyed me with a smug look.

“He’s not that bad, and you know that.” I nudged him.

“Yeah yeah. He’s not that bad.”

Things grew silent as we walked onto the train. Much to our pleasure, the train was near empty save for some sleepy exhausted patrons scattered in the train car. We plopped down in two isolated seats to which he immediately stretched his legs out with an exasperated sigh. I leaned my head back against the cold train wall and released a similar sigh.

“Hey...” His voice muttered lowly as the train began to move. “Can I ask you something?”

I turned my head slowly while keeping it leaned back. “Sure.” I yawned.

“You know I am your best friend right? Like, your super best friend that you can tell anything to?” He said with a straight face. “Like better than Mina, best friends?”

I chuckled. “What is it, Eiji?”

“What’s going on with you and Bakugo?”

My eyes widened at the unexpected question. “What?”

“You guys train a lot after class, you must be getting close right?” He asked with a simple yet tired look of curiosity.

“Well... yeah I guess. But I don’t know if we can call it ‘getting close’.” I shrugged. I could feel my face burning from the sudden topic. “I don’t think Bakugo would exactly call us friends.”

“Well, I haven’t seen him scream at you. So you must be on some sort of good side of his.” He looked off as if he was trying to figure it out. “Which, honestly, I had no idea he could even had a good side.”

”Im sure he's just going easy on me because I'm a girl.” I titled my head in his direction.

”Right.” He rolled his eyes. ”Because he's so nice to Mina, Jirou, Uaraka, Hagakure...”

”Ok, I get it. Maybe he is a little more tolerant of me than he is of other people but that doesn’t make us friends.”

“Do you consider him a friend?”

“Well, yeah.” In my mind, there wasn’t any doubt that Bakugo was someone I could trust and rely on. Out of all the new friends I made at U.A., he was definitely someone I grew the closest to. 

With a satisfied look, he straightened himself in his seat and crossed his arms. “Then I’m sure he considers you a friend too.”

I smile at his response and look out the window on the opposite side of the train.

Eiji snorted a laugh. “You totally have a hard on for him.”

I swung a friendly punch to his arm. “Shut the fuck up.”


	18. Another Lecture

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello~! Sorry for the excruciatingly long wait. I am still invested in this story but I just have to find the time to write. Turns out I had two chapters I never posted. More than likely they still needed some grammar, spelling, and storyline corrections but I’ll come back to fix those.
> 
> Also I’ve been working on some other stories. I made another Bakugo one, which is still in the works, and a few other fandoms. So check those out if you’re interested :)

“Internships are coming up, again.” Bakugo reminded me.

“So I’ve heard.” I swung another punch at the punching bag he was holding in place for me.

“I’ll be going with Best Jeanist for a few days a week so I won’t be able to babysit you during training.”

I smirk to myself and throw a particularly stronger punch then what he was expecting. The impact took him off guard when it swung harsher than normal into his stomach.

“I’ll try not to miss you too much.” I joked smugly.

He huffed a laugh and held a smirk of his own.

“Whatever, dork. Did you manage to find an internship?”

I halted my exercisers to wipe my the sweat from my brow and take a quick breather.

“No, but honestly I haven’t been looking. Toriga was invited to join Snipe and Shido was just asked to intern with Ectoplasm. There isn’t really a lot of pro heroes with a quirk like mine.”

“That’s a dumb reason not to look.”

I rolled my eyes and awaited another lecture from Bakugo.

“The internships aren’t about finding someone just like you, you idiot. They’re about learning what it means to be a pro. Do you think Best Jeanist and I have a single damn thing in common? Of course not! But by passing up on the internships, you’re also passing up on valuable information on what it takes to be a real hero. You want to grow and get better, then this is your chance.”

I sighed at the thought that he was right. Again.

“Also, you’re going to want to have a foot in the door with agencies for when you graduate. You can also apply for certain places of course, but this is the best way for the pros to already know what’re you’re made of and what you can handle. You got it?”

With the end of his lecture brought on his signature glare I’ve come to know. With a deep sigh, I rubbed my head and held my head low.

“As always, you’re right.”

“Damn straight I am.” He grunted, grabbing his bag. The heavy weight of his bag brought out the definition of his arms. I have gained some muscle myself, but I couldn’t imagine ever getting arms as toned as his.

“Go to your dorm, take a shower, and start researching agencies, dumbass.” Slinging his bag over his shoulder. Although his glare was prominent, my attention was still on his arm.

“What the hell are you staring at? Hey! I’m talking to you!”

“Sorry, I was listening but… You have really nice arms. I don’t mean to be weird but damn.”

His face flared into a red as his eyebrow started to twitch. “SH-SHUT UP! I WAS TALKING TO YOU, YOU IDIOT! DON’T SAY SUCH WEIRD THINGS, DUMBASS.”

I giggled at how clearly uncomfortable he is with compliments.

“I’m sorry, I promise I’ll start looking around as soon as I get back to my room.”

“Good! Let’s go already.”

Blush still on his face and his bag in hand, he made a grab for my bag as well before I could. He side eyed me when he has both bags situated in one hand.

“What are you looking at? Stop staring already and let’s go. I don’t have all damn day.” He muttered as he walked past me.

My eyes followed his form before the rest of my body ran to catch up. This was the first time I noticed how cute Bakugo could be. Although he would kill me for ever saying so.

—————————————

*Knock knock*

“Go away.” Bakugo’s voice grumbled from inside his room.

“It’s me.” I announced myself. “I have some awesome news!”

There was no immediate response, after a couple seconds of silence I wasn’t sure if he heard me. I went to knock again but then I heard a loud shuffling from the other side of the door. What sounded like what must have been many plastic bottles getting crushed at once could create a cause of concern for myself. But then his door swung open, but only partly, enough to see his entire body but careful to keep the interior of his room private.

“What do you want?” He glared from the opening.

Shaking the shock, I displayed my excited smile once again. “I did what you said and I was researching agencies like crazy! I presented some of my choices to Aizawa and he said one of them were already interested in ME!!”

He threw his eyebrow up. “Yeah? Whose the unfortunate one?”

“Miruko!”

He threw his eyebrows up. “Damn.” He huffed with small surprise in his tone. “That’s Top Ten.”

“I KNOW!” I shivered in excitement. “I know she’s not as high up as Best Jeanist but this was so much more than I ever expected. I mean, I know I wanted to apply for her but that was more of a “wouldn’t this be nice” kind of thing.”

“Did you take the offer?”

My knit my brows. “Dude, duh. No one can turn that down.”

“Just asking. Nice to know you’re not stupid at least. Congrats. Was that it?”

“Yeah, that’s it. Sorry I’m a little out of breath. I basically ran here to tell you.”

He shook his head and huffed a laugh. “You dweeb. Go study the agency so you’ll be ready for your internship, got it?”

“Will do, after I tell Eiji! See ya in class!” With a two finger salute and a wink, I burst into a sprint for Ejirou’s room.

-Bakugo-

‘The loser told me before she told the idiot, huh?’

After watching her happy dorky self speed walk down the hall, I shut the door behind me and took a look at the pile of trash I shoved behind the door. The mountain of empty water bottles I some how collected was shoved as far out of sight from the door could have made the dork think I was a messy person.

“Fucking hell, I need to clean up.”


	19. Televised

Internships came quicker than any of us thought. I met Miruko a few days prior and she was very... blunt to say the least. With only Aizawa present to introduce us, Miruko came right out and acknowledged my history with the Home. It seemed Principal Nezu gave her the rundown which she explained was best. She wanted to know what “passion I had for becoming a hero”. In this case, she saw my “passion” as wanting to help the kids to leave that Hell Hole. Occasionally she referred to my passion as wanting revenge, but she stated it like it was just another fact of life. She didn’t dismiss this but I could tell from her tone she didn’t condone it either.

My first few days with her included her showing me around her agency and a few hours a day of patrol on the streets. I was incredibly nervous in the first half of the week with her, but her blunt attitude wore me down to a more comfortable level.

“Things can be pretty boring, honestly.” She groaned as we walked down the street. “When I became a hero, I expected every day to be filled with action and justice and all that... but I suppose it’s a good thing the streets are clean. I’ll tell you why that is though! Because these villain bastards know I own these streets. ‘Cowards don’t even think to start shit on my streets because then I’ll be the one to kick their ass into the dirt!” She laughed loudly with her arms stretched behind her head.

“I would have thought your streets are clean because all the banks and jewelry stores are over in Gang Orca’s zone.”

The smile dropped from her face and she gave me the side-eye.

“Ooo look whose growing a pair.”

I laughed at her statement to which she threw in a chuckle as well. 

“Anyway, what’s U.A. like now? I went years ago but I barely remember those days as it is. I mean, I’m sure it’s better than the shit shack you got away from but be honest. I can’t imagine having Eraser as a teacher.” She shuddered.

“It’s great, honestly. Very challenging but that’s what makes it fun! And Aizawa-Sensei isn’t that bad. Well, I heard stories about how strict he was at the beginning of the year, but it looks like the other wore him down a bit.” 

She belted a laugh. “I never thought I’d see the day where he would give a shit about kids, but your class has proven me wrong!”

A blood-curdling scream rung through the streets.

My instinct pushed me into a defense stance “What the hell was that?!”

Miruko, who was also in defense, looked around while using her ears to find the source. After a moment of silence, she took off in a run.

“This way! Looks like you’ll finally get a taste of real trouble, kid. Stay close and keep up!”

After a moment processing, I shot off into a run and followed her closely.

-Bakugo-

I grumbled and aggravated groan. While Blondie was out on patrol doing real hero work, the rest of us who didn’t have an internship today were stuck in some obnoxious lesson. Currently, I was sitting at my desk in my dorm working on the annoying homework Aizawa gave us. It wasn’t hard but it was endless work for something I didn’t think had anything to do with becoming a hero.

My phone rang for the second time in a row, looking briefly, I saw it was TapeArms again. I hung it up immediately. I don’t know what the idiot wanted but I was busy and didn’t want to deal with his bullshit.

My phone rang a third time almost immediately. My brows furrowed in annoyance as I snatched my phone up and swiped to answer.

“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT IM-“

“Bakugo get down here now, Sutomu and Miruko are on the news fighting a villain and it’s getting bad.”

My blood ran cold, before I could think I was already flying out the door and down the stairs.

As I flung myself into the living area, I saw all of our classmates standing absolutely still as they watched the tv. I pushed someone aside, I don’t know who, I just needed to see what was happening. The first thing I saw on the tv was Miruko and Sutomu fighting and dodging a villain. He was lanky and must have been about 10 feet tall. He was controlling his surroundings, molding cement and medal to his favor into offense weapons, and was narrowly missing the two.

When the shot changed to the news anchor on site I took the time to scan for Kirishima and Mina. Mina was on her knees and clutching the fabric of her shirt over her chest, mumbling to herself. Her eyes never budged from the screen but they were flooding with tears of fear. Kirishima was standing solid too, hand over his mouth as he watched in shock too. Toriga arms were wrapped tightly around Shedo’s stomach. They couldn’t look away either.

The shot went back to Sutomu and Miruko as the news anchor continued to speak.

“Pro hero Miruko and U.A. Hero intern known as Live Wire have been keeping up the fight for almost half an hour now. As you can see, Miruko is still going strong but Live Wire is starting to run out of steam. The criminal, who we have yet to identify, was found by the two after murdering a woman in a nearby alley... I am now receiving word that Live Wire is a new intern who has only been with the agency for a week, but if you’re seeing what I’m seeing than it is obvious she is no stranger to combat.”

The camera caught the villain ripping cement out of the wall and flung it at Sutomu. Mina audibly yelped. Doing a jump and roll, she just barley escaped it the heavy rock which crushed through the tar of the street.

The villain pulled a huge metal garbage bin to his grasp. 

“You two are getting really annoying!” He pulled the bin behind his head, as he’s going to throw it at the two. 

Sutomu saw what we all saw. An opening. Using her light travel, she merged with the wires stapled into the side of a nearby building and traveled currents to a nearby street lamp. She flung herself out of the light and was preparing a powerful blast mid-air.

-Sutomu-

It happened in slow motion before my eyes. As my body flew to my target, the villain's chest, I noticed the villains lip curl into a sickening grin. I fell into a trap. He pulled a thick rod of metal from the bin, the sharp end of the metal heading straight for me. Fuck.

-Bakugo-

“NO!” “SUTOMU!” Kirishima and Mina screamed. 

The metal rod went right through her stomach. It kept going through her abdomen for a few feet before her body came to a rough stop. My blood ran cold and I couldn’t feel the reality around me. We watched her body hunch over, desperately grasping the metal ahead of her.

Toriga screamed and Shedo’s knees gave out. Sero noticed Shedo’s release of Toriga and wasted no time in covering her eyes and pulling her face into his torso, shielding her from the sight.

The camera held its view over her like the cameraman was in just as much shock. Then all I could hear was my loud and speeding heartbeat as I began to feel lightheaded and dizzy. I think i’m about to throw up.

“W-w-wait. WAIT!” Denki quickly stood up from his seat, pointing to the screen. “LOOK. LOOK AT HER STOMACH!”

Everyone’s hopeful eyes shot back to the screen. Small sparks were snapping around her wound. She was impaled, but she was able to turn her torso into electricity, protecting her solid form from harm!

-Sutomu-

“Not so tough when you’re bleeding out, now are ya doll?” His sickening voice chuckled.

My eyes slowly rolled from the metal to the villain. His evil snickering stopped when he noticed my glare.

“Wait a minute... why aren’t you bleeding.” His disgusting voice sounded closer. 

I felt static run over my body. The hairs on my arms were standing and my body began to feel weightless. The only thing I could really feel was absolute fucking rage.

My fingers curled, my nails scratched the metal, and my teeth clenched. All I could feel was body shaking rage. “You’re.fucking.dead.”

-Bakugo-

We only saw the look of fear on the villain’s face as he looked Sutomu directly in the eyes, her face out of view from the camera.

Faster than our eyes could follow, her entire body became electricity. She stayed floating in place around the rod until she shot forward at the villain.

We couldn’t understand what was happening. His body was being flung around against the walls of brick buildings and onto the street. What we could only see of her was the ball of electricity that follow his flailing body. She appeared again, in her solid form, in the air and met the villains flying body with a heavy kick onto his stomach, oncoming him back to the street. She changed back into electricity and continued wearing him down fast and was kicking his ass at the same time.

-Sutomu-

I blacked out. I was getting out of control. I could only feel the anger from the fucker almost killing me.

“SUTOMU!” I heard Miruko through my earpiece. “YOU CAN STOP! HE’S HAD ENOUGH, HES OUT COLD!”

Her voice pulled me back through consciousness. I don’t know where I am physical. Whether I was standing or if I was standing at all but I let go of whatever it was I was holding onto. I could only hear the wind rushing past my ears... then it stopped. I noticed Miruko in the corner of my eye. She was close to me. She was holding me. She looked concerned.

-Bakugo-

She stopped as quickly as she began. The villain was on the ground knocked out, but she was still floating high in the air in her electric form. Miruko could be heard screaming, although we couldn’t hear what. 

“Is... she ok?” Jirou muttering cut into the dead silence.

The electricity sizzled away, leaving only her body, most of her legs gone. It was as if she was standing on an invisible platform, but that platform had a trap door that released under her feet. Her limp body fell through the sky. Miruko hopped off the sides of buildings and caught her at the right momentum.

Landing carefully, she sat Sutomu down. The camera was focused on the two of them. Mummers can be heard around the camera guy. Miruko grabbed a charger out of the Sutomu belt bag. Sutomu’s chargers were built like brass knuckles with only two sharp prongs. Precharged, the wireless devices were built by the pink screwball in the support class. Sutomu was instructed to carry multiple with her when she is out doing hero work.

Miruko punched the prongs into Suto’s chest and pulled the trigger. The shock of electricity burst through her body causing it to pulse into a sit-up position. Immediately her legs to reappear.

It was only when she went into a cough fit that the entire room released it’s tension. 

Kirishima was still sitting on his legs while trying to catch his breath. 

He fell forward onto all fours. “Jesus fucking Christ, she scared the shit out of me!” He groaned, clenching his chest.

Mina wiped her eyes. “Me too... I’m going to kick her ass next time I see her!” She began to sob harder.

“Are you alright?” Deku kneeled down to Shedo’s level.

He nodded his head. “I have a massive headache now. That fucking girl I swear.” He sighed of annoyance. “She always finds a way to worry people.” 

Toriga, meanwhile, clung to Sero. She kept sobbing into his chest while he nervously pats her back and stroked her hair, reminding her everything was ok.

Cheers broke out on the news, pulling everyone’s attention back to the screen. 

Sutomu was standing but also leaning against Miruko, who had a grip on her waist. Sutomu did a friendly wave to the people but she looked completely out of it. 

The camera and reporter ran to the two and shoved a microphone right into Sutomu’s face.

“Live Wire, right? You really had us worried there! I’m sure everyone wants to know how you got out of just a fatal attack to the stomach?”

Miruko glared at the reporter and barked. “CANT YOU SEE SHES WORN OUT? GIVE THE GIRL SOME-“

Suto tried to straighten her head up. “I saw tha’ thing and thought oh crap. Turned mah body zzzzzzzip!” she popped the p. “and I’m good!” She began to giggle giving the ok sign.

“Jeez, she sounds drunk.” Sero pointed out.

“Well if her quirk is anything like mine, it would make sense her brain would get fried after a move like that.” Denki sighed.

“Yeah well, at least she can still form sentences.” Jirou rolled her eyes. 

Scarface turned his attention towards me. “Are you alright, Bakugo?”

Everyone else then also turned their attention to me. I couldn’t guess what I must look like but I don’t like being put on the spot.

“Fuck off.” I turned in a huff and went back to my room.

The moment I shut the door, I felt everything rise in me. In a burst of anger, I knocked my entire night standover. The image of her impaled body haunted my thoughts. I sat down on my bed and mentally crashed. The small moments I had with her flashed through my mind and how they could’ve become my last memories of her. My chest was tight and I was getting strong tension headaches. This was the first time I realized just how much I actually cared about her.


	20. The Small Things They Do For Me

-Mina-

She didn't come back to the dorms that night. The next day in class, Aizawa address the elephant in the room. He informed us Sutomu would be taking this day to rest up from the fight. She spent the previous night in the hospital but, as Aizawa said, they couldn’t find a thing wrong with her besides extreme exhaustion. We were informed she would be returning to her dorm while we were in class and we were to not bother her or overwhelm her about the event for the next few days. 

Yeah, fuck that. I’m breaking her door down after class.

-A few days later-  
-Sutomu-

After having the entire day off, I went back to class the next day. Mina basically broke my door down after she came back from class the previous night and became my caretaker. 

I kept telling her I was ok, but honestly, I was freaking out on the inside. Miruko told me I went full fucking electricity! Until yesterday I didn’t know I was able to survive that! Not to mention how I blacked the fuck out! The insecurities began to flood back. What if I lost complete control? What if I killed him? Or innocent civilians? What if it happens again? I don’t know how to control that! What if-

I felt something on my head. “Hey, space cadet.” Bakugo’s cool tone pulled me from my thoughts. I looked over to him and was able to assess he was pressing the spine of a book on top of my head. He was leaned slightly over the side of my desk, his face was probably about a foot away from mine.

“Huh?”

He had that same annoyed look he always gave me while keeping the book steady on my head. “Class is over. Were you paying any attention?”

I scanned the room, everyone was out of their seats and chatting away. How long have I been spacing out?

“Oh... I didn’t notice. The last thing I heard was Aizawa going over hero etiquette...”

He sighed and pull the book off. “So you missed the last hour.”

I blushed and looked down at my desk. Was I spacing out that long? “Did I? Oh no...”

I knew I must have sounded off today, not that he blames me I’m sure.

He groaned. “So, what do you want to do?”

I looked back up at him. “Do?”

He stood up straight and gave me that judgemental look I knew all too well...

“Yeah. Pick up on training or get you caught up on what you missed from the time you were not paying attention?”

I must have looked stupid, but I was confused about his behavior. He was always tolerant of me but something was off. He was acting like nothing..... happened. Oh.

A spark lit up in my chest. Everyone else has been treating me like I was fragile all day but he was the only one not making a big deal about it. He was acting like it was a normal day.

“Oh! Then yeah, we can study together.” I smiled softly.

His eyes widened and his face grew hot. “HEY, DON’T GET THE WRONG IDEA! YOU WERE THE ONE NOT PAYING ATTENTION. ILL BE DAMNED IF SOMEONE IM TRAINING FAILS OUT OF UA!! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW BAD THAT WOULD MAKE ME LOOK?!”

His outburst was cute, to say the least. I tried to hold in a laugh but was only able to level it down to a giggle.

“Hey~! Look who’s smiling again!” Denki slid into the conversation, wrapping his arm around Bakugo’s neck. “It’s barely been a day, I know, but the world is a little darker when Sutomu-Chan isn’t smiling!” He faked sobbed.

“WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? GET OFF ME, DAMN PIKACHU!” The spikey blonde barked into his ear.

Eiji slumped into view. “Aw, I wanted to be the one to make Suto laugh~!” He fell to his knees and dramatically draped his upper half over my desk. “IM SORRY SUTO!! I HAVE FAILED YOU AS YOUR BEST FRIEND! I AM NOT WORTHY OF SUCH A TITLE!!”

I couldn’t contain the laughter. I pat his hair and reassured him he is still a worthy best friend.

Familiar pink arms wrapped around my neck and pulled me into a chokehold of a hug.

“YAY! SUTO IS HAPPY!” Mina swayed me side to side while she sang a happy song from behind me.

Once again, my dear friends pulled me out of my dark space.

————————————

-Eijiro. Earlier.-

“Dude, check out Bakugo.” Denki nudged me. “He’s walking towards Sutomu but we were told not to mess with her right now... should we stop him?”

I watched Bakugo carefully as he brought the book down on Suto’s head. She was absent-mindedly staring out the window and didn’t even notice class dispersed.

“Nah. He’s fine.” I shrugged. “He wouldn’t say anything to purposely upset her.”

Sero leaned in, a look of disbelief. “Whaaaaaaat? Bakugo not upsetting someone?” He tilted his head but it took only a second before a mischievous smirk rolled into his face. “Do you know something we don’t, Kiri? Care to share~?”

I pushed his body away from mine with a gentle hand to his chest and an annoyed look. “Cut it out. Bakugo is friends with her as much as we are... well maybe not as much as me of course.”

Good. Technically the truth and technically not a lie. Wouldn’t be very manly to go and spill a secret one man told another!

“I was only kidding before, but I’m starting to wonder if he DOES like her.” Denki looked up in thought. “Like, as in, like likes her.”

I side-eyed him. “Like like? What, are we in elementary school again?”

Denki opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by Bakugo’s loud voice.

“Hey! Sutomu is smiling again!!” Denki cheered before running over to join the two.

It won’t be long before everyone else figures out Bakugo’s secret. All I can think about though is how awkward that’ll be for Suto if she hears it from anyone but him though...


	21. Something Only He Knows

“Baku... this is soooo boring!” I groaned.

I took him up on his offer to study from what I might have missed. We were in his room, sat on the floor, with books sprawled everywhere.

“Well, maybe you should have thought of that before zoning all day!” He barked.

I snorted a laugh. His angry face was growing on me.

“The hell you laughing at?!”

I smiled, shaking my head and returning my gaze to my book. “Nothing, you’re kind of cute when you’re angry.”

“Wh-what?! What did I tell you about saying weird stuff at loud!”

Holy crap, his voice cracked.

I snapped my look back to him. His face bright red and his eyes wide as he tried to hold his angry look.

I snickered. “Did your voice crack?”

His eyebrows furrowed more. “NO! Stop saying stupid stuff and get back to studying!!”

I tilted my head at his reaction with a look of actual concern. “Bakugo, has a girl never called you cute before?”

He cleared his throat, trying to get his demeanor back.

“Yeah... a few times.” He grumbled pulling his book back in his lap.

“Then why are you being so weird about it?” I poked his arm playfully. 

“I’m not being weird, I’m being annoyed!”

My eyebrows went up and my mouth formed an O. I guess I was annoying him.

“Oh... yeah.” I chuckled. “Sorry. It’s just that this is sooooooo boring!” I groaned again. “Most of this is common sense anyway!”

I rolled my head, which was leaned on the edge of his bed, to look over at him again.

He had an aggravated pout on his face as he ignored my previous statement.

I sighed and looked back towards my book. But an egging thought came to mind.

“Do you think I’m going to get in trouble?”

“For not paying attention? Yeah probably.”

“No, not that. For the other day...”

-Bakugo-

My arms tensed up. I didn’t expect her to bring this up.

“No. Why would you?”

“Do you think Miruko got in trouble?”

“I don’t know, why?”

Her silence unsettled me. I took a brief look over and saw that she was trying to hold her breath. She was looking down at the book in her lap but her eyes were glossy. Fuck, she's about to cry.

“Oh god, what’s with you today?” I panicked. Probably not the best response but I don’t know how to deal with crying. Not to mention how to help her when she was crying.

“Katsuki, I shouldn’t be alive right now.”

My heart might have skipped a beat at her use of my first name. But my thoughts were focused on her statement.

“What does that mean?”

She wiped her eyes. “If I tell you, you have to promise to keep it between us. Please?”

I rubbed the back of my neck. I wasn’t expecting my night to go this way.

“Um yeah. Ok.”

-Sutomu-

I wiped my eyes with my sleeve, hyping myself up to finally tell someone.

“A lot of bad shit happened at the home. A lot.”

He responded uncharacteristically soft. “Yeah, so you’ve mentioned...”

I shook my head. “They tortured us. They tortured me. They forced me to use my quirk beyond its limits to the point where my body was just my torso and my head.” I clutched the fabric of my shirt over my heart. “I... I still feel the pain. The fear. I smell the electrical smoke. Then it stopped. That’s when I was told if I ever went full power and converted even my heart to electricity, I would fizzle into nothing. I would cease to exist.”

“It sounds like they were afraid of what you could do.” He crossed his arms.

My eyes clutched tighter. I started to hear the screams again. My real dark secret echoing in my head. 

“Was there something else?” His voice kept low and soft.

‘Don’t tell him. He’ll be so disgusted in you.’

“Hey.” His gently called to me.

I didn’t respond, I couldn’t look him in the eye like this. So instead I clasped my hands over my face and tried to hide my shaking, crying form from his view.

I heard a sigh, followed by the feeling of his hand wrapping around my other shoulder and pull me into his side. That same arm bent and placed his hand on top of my head.

‘No. I can trust him.’ I tried to confidently tell myself, only half believing it.

“They forced me to hurt people, Katsuki. When Toriga was admitted, she was hysterical. They tied her down and forced me to use my quirk on her like some kind of electrotherapy. I begged them to not make me but they threatened to hurt Shedo if I didn’t. I didn’t have a choice.”

I could feel his fingers curl into my hair, clutching the strands in his grip.

“That’s..... fucking despicable. Forcing you to use your quirk like that... on other kids...” I could hear his clenched jaw from the way he spoke, he pulled me in tighter.

‘Tell him the rest.’

“But it didn’t happen just the once. Katsuki, I never told Shedo and Toriga about this, but the doctors made me do it again and again. I could guess to about five other kids and I just feel so fucking disgusted in myself! The old bitch kept threatening to hurt Shedo and then she started to bring Toriga into it...!”

I pushed my hand off his side to pull back from him, suddenly feeling like I shouldn’t be here, that I shouldn’t have told him this.

“I don’t deserve to be here. I don’t belong here! I’m not hero material. I don’t want-“ he sharply pulled me back into his side.

“Shut up.” His tone took me off guard. His grip on my head kept me from looking up at him. “Don’t go any further with that. You do belong here. There is a lot of waste of space here and you are not one of them. Do you think I would waste my time training with you if I thought you were a lost cause? Huh?!”

“N-no?”

“Exactly. So cut that shit out and never say that again. And as for what you told me, what they did to you is disgusting! What they forced you to do is unforgivable! But you can’t blame yourself for that.”

My heart raced at the encouragement in his voice. I wish I could say I didn’t expect this from him but, I think I knew he was capable.

“Here’s what we’re going to do from here on out. You learned you can go full power and survive. So we need to harness that to your benefit. Learn more about how it works and how to control it. We can even ask Aizawa to monitor to make sure we can control whatever happens. And then you’re going to graduate, become a hero, and be the very force that gets that place closed down for good before they can subject another kid to the same treatment. Got it?”

His overuse of the word “we” overwhelmed me. He wasn’t scared, he wasn’t put off, but he only showed support while pulling me in tighter.

I wanted to know why he treated me this way, why he could learn all the terrible things I’ve done and still only see my potential. But I felt like enough things were said tonight. 

“Here.” He handed me my cold bottle of water. “What did I tell you about staying hydrated, dumbass?”

A weak chuckle came from my throat before wiping my eyes and opening the bottle. “That if I don’t, I’ll get tired, or dizzy, or confused, or stupider, or headaches.”

“Ok ok, I get it. So you pay attention sometimes!”

I giggled and took a sip of the water. The temperature helped soothe my nerves.

“This better not have been some elaborate plot to get out of studying.”

I choked on my water in a laugh. I laughed through a coughing fit and nudged him with my shoulder. 

“Would you stop, you jerk!” I giggled. “That’s not what I was doing!”

I took this chance to finally make eye contact with him, but when I did, what I noticed was the soft amused look in his amber eyes. I felt my chest tighten and my face warm. I quickly looked away and down at the mess of books on the floor. While trying to surprise a smile, I realized that I may be developing a small crush on Bakugo.


	22. Always Have a Spotter

The next day, Bakugo and I went back to training after classes. We were in the gym, taking turns spotting each other with weights. Currently, I was spotting him on the bench. He was on his back pushing the weights upwards. “Sorry for calling you by your first name, by the way.” I apologized.

He grunted, pushing the weight away from his chest again. “What... are you going on about?”

I ghost my hands under the bar he was lifting as a precaution. Although he had a very good idea of his limits and knew when to put them down, you should ALWAYS have a spotter. At least that’s what Bakugo had nailed into my head.

“Last night. I called you by your first name. A few times, actually.”

His arms gave out unexpectedly, bringing the bar sharply down on his chest.

“Holy-!” I gripped the bar and helped him hoist it back to the holster. He then quickly sat up with a bright blush on his face while coughing the spit he must have choked on. “Are you ok?!”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Good spotting.” He looked away from me, pretending to look for his water.

I knelt to the ground to pick up the condensating bottle and handed it to him. “What happened? You normally do a few more of those before reaching your limit.”

He took the bottle without making eye contact. His face a tad red. “Yeah, well I can’t focus when you say things weirdly!”

I thought back on what I said, trying to think what the problem was. “What are you-“ oh... OH! I felt a blush of my burn on my face, which I used my hands to hide from the sight. “Oh god that did sound bad, didn’t it. Sorry!”

“Forget it.” He huffed, wiping the sweat off his brow with his towel. “You can call me Katsuki if you feel the need to. Just don’t go saying it in front of everyone else or they’ll get the wrong idea...”

My eyebrows went up. “Oh, um. Sure! No problem!”

He took a quick drink and tossed his towel around his neck. I took the opportunity to swap places with him to do my own set. 

“What is it? 30, 40 pounds?” He teased.

“Fuck you, you know I like to keep it 100.” I winked up at him.

“Psh. Sure.” I assumed the red on his face was from the previous statement. He removed some of the extra weights until we were at an even 100 pounds. 

-Bakugo-

“So why do you do it?” I asked, my hand ghosting under the bar she was lifting. “Not go by your last name, that is.”

“Would you want to go by the same name as the family who didn’t want you anymore?” Her voice wasn’t too affected by the weights been held over her chest.

It seemed I have a thing for strong women. 

“No, I guess not.”

I tried to focus on spotting and how she was keeping her form, but I couldn’t help but wonder how she deals with all the shit she does.

“Hey,” she grunted, pushing the weights up again. “Don’t look so down. I’m over them so you don’t need to feel bad for me.”

I huffed a laugh. “Like I have to worry about you.”

It meant to come off as an insult, but by the smirk on her face, I knew she was aware of the true meaning.


	23. The Madam

-Sutomu-

A week later, things started to come down a little.

I was so grateful to have friends like Shedo and Toriga. Since the fight, they have been so supportive in helping me deal with the new revelation of what my length my powers reach. They reminded me over and over how the home was only trying to cap our potential and not refine it. They cheered me the whole way as Bakugo (with the occasional assistance of Kaminari) helped me understand more about how to use this new ability, which we have now called Full Surge. Even Mina and Eijiro liked to come by the gym and watch me practice. I was making progress but still didn’t find the confidence to go completely Full Surge.

My glance moved from Aizawa’s lesson to Bakugo. He was paying close attention and taking notes, his hand having its normal death grip on his pencil. A smile grew onto my face.

‘And it’s all thanks to you.’

It has never once left my mind that I owe a lot to Bakugo. His reasons were selfish, but he went out of his way to show me how to use my quirk. I learned so much about my powers because of him, I can’t imagine what I could ever do to repay him. 

Maybe I should get him something nice? Does he even like nice things? His room is so minimal that I couldn’t imagine what he would/could want. Maybe a protein shaker?

I huffed a silent laugh at the thought. He probably would appreciate that. His ears perked at the small sound and subtly turned his head to look back at me. I politely smiled and waved.

His eyebrows furrowed in his normal angry/threatening look, mouthing to me, ‘PAY ATTENTION, SPARKS!’ before turning back around in his seat.

My smile grew bigger at the dork. He was obsessed with his schoolwork and would become furious is someone else wasn’t.

A soft jab to my arm alerted me. My eyes darted to the right to Toriga. She had a smug look on her face as she teased me with her eyes.

‘What?’ I mouthed to her with an embarrassed blush. ‘It’s nothing!’

She smirked and shook her head sarcastically. I rolled my eyes and focused back on our lesson.

Toriga has come out of her shell thanks to Yaoyorozu and Koda. And Shedo has become quite popular when he started to hang out with Midoriya and Todoroki. I would’ve been sad that we were drifting into our own groups if it weren’t for how happy we all were. Besides, we’re still together in the same class after all. 

A knock on the door stopped Aizawa's lecture. He slumped his way to the sliding door and greeted the person on the other side, out of view.

“Ah yes. Class, it seems our guest speaker has arrived. Please welcome Ms. Kashakun who will be speaking to you about the dangers of the overuse of quirks.”

My smile and heart dropped No.... no... nononononono. Why is she fucking here?!

In front of the class was the devil herself. Madam Kashakun from the home.

“Good morning class.” Her old cracked voice spoke. Her eyes fell dead on me as a wicked smile crawled onto her face. “I look forward to speaking with you today.”

She began to speak. What bullshit she was on about, I didn’t know. I couldn’t hear anything but my heavy beating heart. I tried to run, I wanted to run, but I couldn’t move. Then the pain from her quirk started to crawl up my arms. Black tiger-like stripes traced my veins from my hands and up my body. I was stiff, my fingers spread, curled, and shaking from the agony. A searing pain I haven’t felt in months, that I thought I would never feel again, burned my nerves on their very edges. I side-eyed Toriga and Shedo and saw the same look of fear on their faces with the same stripes crawling up their necks and onto their jaws.

We were at the back of the class, so no one could see us, and Aizawa's nose was in his stupid fucking book. No one knew what danger we were in to stop it. We were going to fucking die.

But then an idea came to mind. I looked over to Kaminari and tried to focus strictly on him to strike sparks in his hair. A trick I learned I could only do to him as a way of messing with him.

I could see the small sparks snapping in his hair, which he batted away at first. I tried again desperately, the pain starting to get worse in my hands. God damn it, Kaminari I can’t keep this up.

Finally, he turned back to look at me with a knowing smile on his face, but his eyes went wide and the smile broke. 

“Ho-ly shit!” He shot out of his seat. Everyone’s attention turned back to us. I could hear screaming and panic but the pain pursued. She still wasn’t letting go.

My eyes were watering but I could see Aizawas panicked look, his eyes flashed to Madam Kashakun and it clicked. Thank fucking god it clicked.

I knew he saved us when he erased her quirk because the pain finally stoped. Our bodies both slumped forward onto our desks. We passed out instantly. 

I began to awake to murmurs and Mina’s comforting me by petting my hair. How long was I out? The cold desk under my head could still be felt, so I knew I was still in the classroom. Mustering up the strength, I slowly lifted my head and wiped the expelled ink-like substance that pooled from my mouth, nose, ears, and eyes. My classmates were trying to call out to Shedo and Toriga who were still passed out.

“D-don’t move them...” I huffed.

Their heads turned to me.

“Suto!!” Mina cried. She held my face in her hands. “Are you ok?! Should we get you to the nurse?”

I bat her hand out of the way and ignored her question.

“Don’t. Move them.” I repeated. “It will just cause more pain. Let them wake up on their own. Their nerves are still settling from the ink.”

“Sutomu, what was that?” Midoriya asked with worry. “Who was that woman?”

“Madam Kushakun.” I huffed.

“The... old bitch from the home.” Shedo huffed from his seat. The girls ran to his aid and tried to help him sit up straight. Momo handed him a handkerchief which he used to wipe his face of the ink.

“The home? Your last school?” Hagakure asked.

“Y-yeah.”

The class door flung open.

“The bitch is gone. We looked all over campus for her.” Bakugo huffed, covered in sweat. He looked up and his eyes went straight to mine, he looked relieved.

“The staff have been informed and most of the pros know to look for-“ Eijiro’s eyes caught mine. “SUTO!” He ran to my side, placing a careful hand on my back.

“Jesus fuck, Suto. Are you alright?”

I wiped the remaining ink from my eyes and stood up. Ejirou tried to motion for me to sit back down but I smacked his hand away. 

“I’m fine. Where did the old bitch go?”

“After you passed out, we all came to check on you guys, but when we turned around she was gone,” Sero explained. 

“Yeah, you should have seen how fast Bakugo, Kirishima, and Aizawa ran to chase her down,” Jirou added. “How someone her age could outrun them is a mystery.”

Probably with the help from one of the home’s teachers I’m sure.

“Shedo. Can you walk?”

He shook his head and stood up.

“That shit never gets easier.” He weakly joked.

“She’s done this to you before?” Asui asked, shocked.

I glanced to Shedo and he only shrugged in exhaustion.

“We’ll tell you guys later.” I changed my focus to Toriga. “Toriga. Hey, are you awake yet?”

Her breathing changed but she didn’t move. Shedo’s eyes flashed quickly to me before kneeling next to her.

“Hey. Tori.” He whispered. “It’s ok, she’s gone. You’re ok. We’re all ok.”


	24. Mental Breakdown

Toriga rose slowly, black liquid smeared all over her face.

“Are we safe anywhere anymore?”

“Of course you’re safe here, Tori.” Yaoyorozu rubbed small careful circles on her back. “You have all of us here. We won’t let them take you back there.”

I side-eyed her. “Yaoyorozu, you know?”

Her eyes went wide, like a deer in the headlights.

“I.... well...”

“Yeah I told her, I’m sorry.” Toriga apologized, still rubbing the ink from her face. 

I asked softly. “Who else knows?”

“I also told Koda.” She spoke carefully, thinking she was in trouble.

“I told Midoriya, Todoroki, and Tokoyami,” Shedo added. “Sorry.”

I shook my head. “Don’t be. You guys knew I told Ejirou. And now Mina and Bakugo know.” I awkwardly rubbed the back of my head. “We might as well tell everyone else.”

“We already dragged them into this, it’s only fair,” Shedo added with a nod.

I sighed and looked up at my classmates. Bakugo was on the side, leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, staring at the floor. The others that knew offered supportive small smiles, while those who didn’t know held justified looks of concern.

Shedo started talking first. Careful how much of the private details we added, we filled them in on the “mission” of the home, the state we were raised in, the torture they put the others through, and Thirteen freeing us.

It was hard to see all the looks of pity from our friends. Some cried, some got a little angry, and some were just speechless. But it made it painfully obvious the love and support our friends had for us. 

Eventually, Aizawa came back with a look of defeat accompanied by Principal Nezu. They couldn’t find her either.

They both bowed towards us.

“We’re sorry this happened.” Nezu apologized. “We alerted all staff, pros, and police to keep a lookout for her. Are you kids ok?”

I shook my head in anger with the tears of fury. My breath was shaky and the rage grew. Of course she fucking got away again.

“Suto?” Mina asked with concern.

I shook my head harder and merged into a nearby outlet. I just wanted to get the fuck out of there.

I traveled the currents until I found the wiring leading to our dorms, and followed the familiar wires back into my room.

Exiting the outlet in my room, and back in my full form, I figured I had a few minutes to act on my emotions before anyone would overhear.

I threw my desk chair across my room followed by the school books I had on the desk. I screamed to myself when I kicked my bedside table over and fell to my knees after throwing the pillows. I could feel the currents waving through me, probably setting the electricity haywire in the dorms.

Sat on the floor, against my bed, with my knees pulled in tightly to my chest. My face was hiding in my knees with my fingers woven through my hair. I was trying desperately to calm down before causing a blackout.

“Jesus fuck, dramatic much?” A familiar gruff voice huffed from my door.

I shot back up to sitting straight and made eye contact with Bakugo. He was leaning against my closed door and glaring down at me with his arms crossed.

“When did you get here?”

“Just now. How long have you been on the ground?”

I glanced at my clock which was now unplugged and thrown across the room.

Bakugo sighed. “It’s 3:48.”

It’s been half an hour? I must have been out than I thought.

“Are you ok?” He changed the subject.

I stood up and dusted off my legs.

“Sure. Fucking peachy.”

“Cut the attitude, I’m seriously asking.”

My glance snapped to him. “Oh I’m sorry, I just found out my teacher and principal let a fucking psycho on campus. The very psycho they swore to protect us against and that we would be safe from, by the way! Who just tried to fucking kill us!! They, not only allowed her on campus, but fucking welcomed her as a guest fucking speaker!” I threw my hands in the air in frustration. “They were so quick to background check us, but do they always just let any fucking adult in the school?! But oh no, you’re right, I’m fucking overreacting right?!”

He stood up straight with his same angered look and took a few quick steps closer to me. “Calm the fuck down, I didn’t say you were overreacting!” He yelled back. “And they did a background check her, but Aizawa said the home wasn’t mentioned on her record. They think she may have tampered her records to cover that up.”

“Big fucking surprise.”

“Would you chill the fuck out? I came up here because the light show you caused around the school had everyone too scared of getting zapped to check up on you!”

My anger flushed away and my eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Light show?”

His look softened as he explained shortly after I left the lights started flickering in the building and even blew some lights out in the door hallway.

I took a second to accept the information before my breathing got harder and harder. Great. Now my quirk is not as under control as I thought. 

“God... fucking....” I grabbed my pillow off the ground, sat on the edge of my bed, slammed my face in it, and screamed. “DAMNIT!!!!”

I screamed some more obscenities into the innocent pillow and just tried to calm down.

A dip beside me on my bed told me Bakugo had sat down too.

He sighed, trying to find the right words. “What... what is happening... right now?”

If it weren’t for the stress and fear, I may have laughed at his awkward choice of words.

My face stayed in the pillow for a few moments, unaware that Bakugo’s hand was hesitatingly floating over my back, contemplating if he should try to comfort me.

He quickly retreated his hand when I slowly sat up and wiped my eyes, the black residue still on my face appeared on my sleeve.

“I’m so sick of being scared.” I started. “I finally feel at home and safe and loved, more than I have in years, but then the devil shows up again. She knows where we are, she knows where we live! How much longer before she wins and we get sent back? And when we do, do you have any idea what she’ll do to us?!” The salty tears started to sting my eyes.

“Hey!” He barked, grabbing my forearm and pulling my attention to him. He pointed an aggressive finger in my face. “First of all, you’re never getting sent back there so you can shut that stupid ass idea down. That’s a stupid fucking thing to worry about. Second of all, you have nothing to be scared of. If you honestly think you’re the same person you were when you came here, then you're dumber than Pikachu and ball head combined.”

That got a small smile out of me.

“You told me what you were like in that shit shack, and that’s nothing like who you are now. You’re stronger than ever, don’t insult me by saying all that training did nothing!” 

My smile grew a little more as my eyes began to swell.

“And third of all, if you think for a damn second some old bitch is going to get through me or rock head, then you must have busted your head on that desk because no one is getting to you!”

After the last outburst, he quickly recoiled back with a bright red look and wide eyes. “I mean... as one of the better heroes-!“

I softly placed my hand on his forearm. “Katsuki, don’t worry, I get it.” I wiped my eyes. “Can I hug you?”

He turned his face away as quickly as he could to hide his obvious awkward blush. 

“If- if it would make you stop crying...”

I slowly reached my hands around his waist and buried myself into his shoulder. After a few seconds, his hands hesitatingly rest themselves on my back. One on my lower back, and one on my upper back over my hair.

“You’re stupid sometimes.” He whispered.

I felt his body relax and I tightened my hold on his waist. “I know. Thank you, Katsuki.”

My loud heartbeat could be felt through Bakugo, or was it maybe his heartbeat?

I understood that moment that I cared for Bakugo dearly and deeply. I liked him


	25. He’s Totally Into Her

-Denki- 

After Suto stormed out, Aizawa explained in more detail how the old snake got onto campus. Shedo and Toriga tried to understand but collectively, I could tell they were disappointed in our teachers.

Toriga brought up the point this was probably why Sutomu left suddenly, that when the lights started to flicker.

Shedo looked up at the flickering light. “She’s getting emotional.” He spoke in a monotone.

“Should someone check on her?” Uruaka asked with concern.

“Maybe we should give it some time.” Mina cut in. “Her quick is a little unpredictable when she’s at emotional highs.”

Shedo stood out of his chair. “Toriga, can you walk?”

She sleepily nodded her head and slowly stood up.

He walked to her side and took her arm in his. “Mr. Aizawa, if you don’t mind, Toriga and I are going to head back to the dorms. Today has been... distracting.”

Aizawa thought for a second and sighed.

“I probably need to speak with the detective again, anyway. So why don’t we just call class for a day? This doesn’t get you out of your homework, you will be expected to finish the chapter on your own and turn in the work accordingly.” He shoved his hand in his pockets and made a slow stride to the class door. “Do not disturb other classes on your way back to the dorms.”

He left the room and we turned our attention back to each other.

“Can you guys check on Suto?” Asui requested of Toriga and Shedo.

Another surge of electricity flickered the lights.

“Honestly,” Shedo sighed. “As much as I love her, I don’t have the energy to talk her out of her emotional highs. I’m just going to take Toriga back to my dorm to recoup.” He exited the room with his arm protectively around the nervous Toriga.

“Well someone should, right?” Hagakure whispered. “Poor Sutomu, she shouldn’t be alone right now...”

“Kirishima why don’t you talk to her?” I asked. “You're her best friend.”

He rubbed the back of his head. “And get my ass electrocuted? Nah, it’s probably best we let her calm down first.”

“She doesn’t produce unintentional static anymore.” Bakugo cooly threw in. “Her emotions can still affect electronics but she’s learned to control herself.” His voice was slightly bitter. We probably shouldn’t be talking so lowly of his Sutomu in front of him hehe. 

Mina and Kirishima looked between each other, to which Mina shrugged and motion to Bakugo.

“Bakugo, why don’t you check on her?” Mina asked with a tilted head.

“What?! Why me?!” He barked.

“As much as I hate to admit it, she responds more to you than anyone else.” Kirishima half-smiled. “Besides I’m sure your company would be appreciated right now.”

Bakugo’s eye twitched from the suggestion but crossed his arms and huffed. “What is that supposed to-! UGH! Fine! I’ll check on YOUR stupid friend.” With that, he stormed out of the room. Leaving us confused at the surprisingly low amount of fight back he gave. 

———————————————-

-Denki-

Sero, Mina, Jirou, Kirishima, and I were sitting in the lobby of the dorms, worrying about our friend.

“The lights haven’t gone off in a while,” Jirou pointed out. “She must be calming down.”

Footsteps down the stairs pulled our eager attention. We were hoping to see Sutomu back in her normal chipper state but were met with the gruff look on Bakugo’s face. He paid us no mind as he walked past us and into the kitchen.

“Hey, man! How is she?” Sero called out to him.

Bakugo ignored his question, opening the fridge and pulling out some bottles of water.

“Well?” Sero asked again when Bakugo walked past us again.

“What, duct tape?!” He groaned.

“How is she feeling?” Kirishima asked.

He rolled his eyes. “Do you see the lights going haywire? She’s fine! She broke some stuff in her room and wore herself out. Now she’s just trying to get caught up in today’s lesson. Mind your own damn business!” He turned around and went back upstairs.

I crossed my arms and leaned back on the sofa. “Ok, I’m convinced he’s into her.” 

Jirou side-eyed me. “Yeah, no shit. Figure that one out on your own?”

“Seriously, did you see how quickly he ran up to her after she passed out?” Mina giggled mischievously. “He was also the first one to noticed the old crone made a run for it. I have never seen him run out of a room so fast!”

I wanted to know what Kirishima thought of this, but he looked nervous.

“Kiri, do you know something?” I cocked an eyebrow.

“Uh. No?”

“Ooooo he does!” Sero laughed. “Who is it, Bakugo or Sutomu? What do you know?!”

“No one! Why are you asking me!”

“Does Suto like Bakugo?!” Jirou sat up in her seat.

“What?! No!”

“So it’s Bakugo!!” I chirped.

“Stop putting words in my mouth! I’m not telling you guys anything! It’s a man’s secret and I will not- god damn it!” He groaned, realizing he let it slip.

“ITS BAKUGO!” Mina squealed. “Oh, this is too perfect! Suto is a little harder to read but shes totally fond of Bakugo! They would be so cute!”

“Are we talking about the same Bakugo?” Jirou joked. “Do you really want to subject poor innocent Suto to his antics?”

“Are you kidding? Have you noticed how much calmer Bakugo has been since training with her?” Sero laughed. “Before today, he hasn’t called me duct tape in weeks!”

I side-eyed the defeated redhead next to me. “Hey Kirishima, would you be ok if they were to start dating? You guys have been friends forever, you sure you don’t have any sort of feelings for her?”

His face scrunched up in confusion. “What? No! She’s like a sister. My mom has been trying to basically adopt her since she met her. I mean, we tried dating when we met in fourth grade but that was for a week and it just didn’t feel right.” His eyes went wide and waved a pointed finger between us. “You guys CANNOT tell Bakugo about that!”

I would push on that further but I had an evil idea.

“Hey,” I leaned forward in a whisper. “Do you guys want to fuck with Bakugo...?”


	26. Denki Went Too Far

AUTHORS NOTE: As of February 8th, I have completed going back to all previous chapters and fixed the spelling of Eijiro’s name as well refined what Sutomu’s powers really are. If willing, please reread the first few chapters for the upgraded storyline for her abilities. Short version: she cannot control lightning willingly. She can “absorb/project/manipulate”. Meaning she can become electricity, project it, and mess with electronic wiring around her. Such as lights and outlets. She cannot, however, mess with unplugged devices such as phones (but obviously if she shocked it she could fry them). Lightning manipulation has been completed removed. That’s not to say she will not have experience with direct lightning exposure in the future, but she cannot call it down on a whim.

-Denki-

A couple of days went by and we were wanting to help Sutomu forget about what happened. We were at lunch, vibing to whatever music Jirou was playing when I felt a nudge on my foot. I looked under the table and noticed Jirou’s boot closest to mine. Looking back up and over to her, I was met with Jirou’s mischievous eyes. I cocked an eyebrow which she responded with a nod towards Bakugo and Sutomu’s direction. The two of them were side by side, Bakugo was nagging to her about eating her food too quickly while she just giggled and ate bigger chunks of food to mess with him. 

I quietly snickered and winked at Jirou.

I cleared my throat. “Hey, Suto?”

Her glance moved to mine, a smile still lingering from messing with Bakugo.

“If we had kids, what do you think their quirks would be like?”

Sutomu and Bakugo both choked on their food, erupting a laugh from everyone else.

“I’m sorry. What?” She asked between coughs.

“Theoretically. If we were to have kids. What would their quirks be like?”

She blinked a couple of times, probably wondering if I was serious.

“Oh... well...? Obviously, they would have pretty strong electricity powers.”

“DON’T ENTERTAIN THIS!” Bakugo scolded her.

She nudged him with a smirk. “It’s just a theoretical question, it’s fun!”

“What would we name them?” I added fuel to the fire.

Bakugo’s glare snapping in my direction. I tried to stifle a laugh.

“Oh! Virgil! That’s Static Shock’s real name!”

My jaw dropped. “Duuuude you watched Static Shock??”

“Psh fucking duh.” She held her hand up and released a spark between her fingers.

I waved peace signs in the air and snapped some electricity of my own. “Oh shit! Electric gang gang!”

“What about us, Suto?” Kirishima added. “Our kids would be hella cute!”

I'm pretty sure I saw a vein on Bakugos forehead bulge a little. Suto, however, had food in her mouth but frantically smacked her hands on the table, trying to swallow her food to make her statement.

“We talked about this before, remember? If we had kids, their quirk would be electrical grounding or some shit! We would call them something cool like Spike or Ember!”

Kirishima got excited. “I forgot about that! Spike, Ember, and a dog named Frankenstein!”

“Hey, hey!” Sero separately tried to add-in. “If we had a kid, it would be electrical tape!”

Suto slammed her fist down and threw her head back in harsh laughter.

“ELECTRICAL TAPE!” She cheered.

“Would you guys shut the fuck up!” Bakugo barked at us. We ignored him.

“Ooh, Sutomu!” Jirou waved in. “What should we name our kid?”

She wiped a tear to think about it but I butted in.

“iPhone charger!”

This earned another loud laugh from everyone besides the angry time bomb.

Sutomu coughed, clearing her throat. She looked down the table to Mina.

“Mina, before you ask. Battery Acid.”

She gasped. “YAAAAAAS you and I are getting a cat and that will be its name!”

“Hey uh,” Sero tried to stay calm, digging into his food. “What about Bakugo?” His voice cracked, trying to hold a laugh.

The table went quite briefly. Bakugo and Sutomu both had wide eyes in shock, staring at their food in front of them.

Suto was the first to look over at Bakugo and then back to us. “Um, I don’t think Bakugo wants to play this game.”

Kirishima slapped his hand down. “Transformer!”

The table went back into erupted laughter including Sutomu. Bakugo looked about done with our bullshit and red in the face, refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

“What?!” Kirishima defended himself. “Like the electric boxes! Haven’t you seen those things explode?!”

Bakugo stood up suddenly. “I’m not dealing with you idiots today!” He kindly declared.

“Noooo Bakugo, come back!” Sutomu called after him, still laughing. “It’s just a game!” But Bakugo was already gone. Red face still visible from across the lunchroom.  
———————————————

-Mina-

A couple of days later, we were still poking fun at Sutomu and Bakugo but very subtly. We were clearly getting on Bakugo’s nerves but he was none the wiser on why we were messing with him in the first place.

Sutomu however, oh sweet Sutomu, completely clueless. I guess it doesn’t help that this is the pressure Kirishima and I constantly applied to her when we were kids. She just thinks it’s normal now.

Currently, she and I were curled up on the couch in the common room watching TV while Bakugo, Denki, and Kirishima were nearby in the kitchen, making their dinners.

With all the fun we were poking at the two, I never thought to ask Sutomu if she was even INTO men in the first place. For all I knew, maybe she had some kind of sexual awakening since we were kids.

“Hey, Suto-Chan~?” I called her from the other side of the couch.

“Yes, my Mina?” She rolled her head to me.

“Would you ever date a girl?”

Her face burned red. “W-What?!”

I shrugged like it was normal. “Would you ever date a girl, or are you just into men?”

Man, the boys in the kitchen sure became awfully silent.

Her eyes flash to the boys and back. “Would you keep your voice down! People can hear you!”

I gave her a sad look. “I’m sorry~! I was just curious.”

She rolled her eyes and huffed a small laugh. “I don’t know, Mina. I’ve never dated one, let alone a guy...”

“Are you attracted to men?” I chirped.

“Mina!” She hushed me. “Please keep your voice down!”

I groaned and rolled onto my back on the couch. One mischievous thought later, I quickly rolled back onto my stomach and jumped to sit on my knees.

“Want to find out if you like girls?” I jokingly flutter my eyes.

“Mina...” she warned. “What are you doing?”

I hopped closer to her with a big smile. She scoots further back. I hopped again, breaking a smile onto her face.

“Mina.” I kept getting closer. “Mina!” She laughed standing off the couch which I mirrored. She started to fast walk away as I followed her closely.

“Mina! Stop!” She chortled, walking circles in the common room to get away from me. 

“Come on, Suto! KISS ME!”

“No! You’re gross!”

“What? Don’t want to because you’re scared you’ll like it~?” I teased.

“Hahaha no, I don’t WANT TO because YOU’RE GROSS!”

“Aw! Don’t be like that baby! I can chaaaange!” I fake cried, not letting up my stalking.

Her laughter was getting harder by the second! “MINA PISS OFF!” She took off into a run out of the dorms.

“BABY DON’T LEAVE ME~!” I chased her, laughing.

-Denki-

I propped my elbows on the counter and stuffed my face into my hands, trying my best not to laugh hysterically.

“Mina can be really annoying sometimes.” Kirishima sighed. 

“Yeah, but you get with her in a second!” I nudged him.

Before he could react, a shakey breath moved our attention. Mineta popped his head over the counter with his normal dazed look he gets when he’s around women.

“Did I hear all of that correctly? Was Athido going to kith Sthutomu? Did I mith it?”

I would have said something myself, but Kirishima beat me to it.

“Mineta, seriously. Fuck off, you’re disgusting.”

“Oh pleathe! You would have lovthd to thee that too!”

I was going to take my turn to tell him to fuck off, but Bakugo took it into his own hands. Literally.

A quick grab and he had Mineta by his neck and in the air.

“Ball head, FUCK OFF!”

He threw him, letting off his quirk just as he let go, blasting Mineta further across the room. Mineta got up shortly after landing and ran up the stairs in retreat.

“Damn Bakugo,” Kirishima crosses his arms. “That should keep him away for the girls for a while. Fucking creep... how does someone like that stay in the heroes course?”

“Shitheads like that don’t deserve to be heroes.” He gruffed.

“Nonetheless. Good going, man. I don’t know what I would do if I found out he’s being gross around Sutomu.” Kirishima shook his head, his pointy hair staying perfectly still. 

Bakugo put his now clean dishes away and walked out of the kitchen and back to his dorm muttering “Yeah like that’s going to fucking happen.”

When he was out of earshot, I nudged Kirishima with my shoulder. “Shame Sutomu wasn’t around to see that. Girls are a sucker for men standing up for them.”

He rolled his eyes at me and went back to finishing his food.  
———————————————

I may have pushed it a little too far with harassing Bakugo. Me and the boys were exiting the showers from hero training today. 

“You guys think I have a chance with Sutomu?” I asked.

Sero and Kirishima looked at me with a look telling me I fucked up. Bakugo stood still in front of his open locker facing the other way.

“Ummm...” Kirishima tried to mediate. “I’m gonna say no man.” He laughed awkwardly. “I think she just sees you as a friend.”

I shrugged, feeling like playing with fire a little more. “I don’t know, we have a lot in common, I make her laugh and, you know.... she’s a total babe with a great ass.”

Kirishima stopped tying his shoes and his eyes rolled up into a threatening glare at me. Whoops. I stretched my lower lip sideways, apologizing with no words.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t dude.” Sero threw in. “Besides aren’t you into Jirou?”

My face burned a little. “Wh-what? Where did you get that idea?!”

The bell rang for our next class and everyone began to clear out. I was heading out last when I was yanked by my collar and shoved against the lockers. Bakugo had one of the nastiest threatening looks I’ve ever seen from him.

“Woah, hey man!”

He pulled me off the lockers just to harshly pushed me back against them.

“You don’t EVER! Fucking talk about Sutomu like that, DO YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND!”

“Bakugo, chill man it was a joke!”

I swear I could hear a growl in his tone. “Well, I wasn’t laughing. Stay the fuck away from her or I will destroy you!”

I tried to push his hand off me but it wouldn’t budge. “Dude calm down, we we’re just messing with you! We know you’re into her and just wanted to give you a hard time about it! I’ll admit, saying that put a really bad taste in my mouth! Suto is one of my closest friends, I don’t like her like that and I wouldn’t do that to you.”

He looks taken back by my response but his eyes tightened back in his glare.

He pulled me forward again. “Do not!” He threw me back, this time letting go. “fucking talk about her like that again. And leave her out of this.”

He grabbed his bag and threw it over his shoulder making a quick exit.

“Alright man, geez. I’m sorry!” I yelled after him, when he was gone I shook my head and muttered to myself. “...damn...” I uttered to myself. 

I grabbed my stuff and walked out, Kirishima and Sero waiting outside and Bakugo was gone.

“What the hell dude, why the did you have to go and say THAT!” Sero groaned.

“Dude, I thought he was actually going to beat me up.” I weakly joked. “Almost pissed myself.”

“Yeah, well you would have deserved it.” Kirishima pinched the bridge of his nose. “I know you were kidding, but she’s my friend so please... don’t.... say that shit. That’s just weird and not right.”

I sighed. “Yeah... that was stupid but I panicked. Won't happen again. Sorry Kiri.”

He pats my shoulder. “Bakugo scared the hell out of you so I think that’s enough of a punishment. Come on, we have our next class.”


	27. Girl’s Night

-Mina-

This was getting to be really fun. Ever since Denki’s idea to mess with Bakugo about his crush, Jirou and I took it upon ourselves to poke some fun at Sutomu.

“So~ how’s training with Bakugo?” I nudged my blonde friend who was intensely studying.

She shrugged, not removing her eyes from the book. “Pretty good. We’re working on my confidence in my quirk. Going full electricity takes some hype to say the least. I’m helping Bakugo fight against transparent and fast moving targets.”

I deadpanned over to Jirou, sitting on the other side of her, who gave the same look back.

“You guys, uh...” Jirous casually added, “Sure have been spending a lot of time together.”

“Yup.” She half nodded. 

“Anything... going on there?” I took a step further.

With a deep sigh, she closed her book and look between us. 

“What is this?” She asked, aggravated.

I twisted my torso so I fell backwards into her lap. 

“Oh come on, Suto! You can tell us! Do you like Bakugo?!”

“Mina!” She yelled in a hushed tone even though we were alone in Jirou’s room.

“Just tell us, Sutomu.” Jirou cooly added. “You know we won’t tell anyone. You’re totally into him.” She stated rather than asked.

“You guys... please?”

“It’s ok, Suto! I’ll even admit to you I think Kirishima is cute.” I argued.

“Fucking knew it...” Jirou snickered. I glared up at her in response.

“You like Eijiro?” She cocked an eyebrow, almost in disbelieve.

I draped my arms along side my head on her thighs. “Well... maybe. I don’t know. Sure?”

“I’m going to need the story on that.” She smirked.

My eyebrows furrowed and I pointed up to her face. “Not until you tell us what’s going on with you and the hot head!”

She smacked her hands over her face with a groan.

“We’re getting somewhere~!” Jirou sang.

“Ok...” she pulled her hands off her face. “I’ll admit I think he’s cute.”

I squealed and kicked my feet around. “I knew it! Have you said anything?!”

She shyly shrugged. “Not really...”

“Have you never dated before, Suto?” Jirou nudged. 

“Technically no. We weren’t really allowed to fraternize with other students.”

Jirou’s eyes widened. “Oh shit, I’m sorry Suto, I forgot!”

“You dated Kiri once!” I chirped to cut the awkwardness.

“Mina! We were kids and we barley lasted a week! It was just really weird the whole time.”

I chuckled, but immediately rose back up and went back to the task at hand. “But seriously, are you going to say anything?”

“Mina, no. Bakugo is a very important person to me who barely thinks of me as a friend and has higher priories.”

I give a knowing glance to Jirou, remembering what Denki told us happened in the locker room with Bakugo. Jirou shook her head, I nodded back, agreeing we shouldn’t be the ones to tell her. Not yet anyway.

“Besides, I wouldn’t know the first thing about being in a relationship.” She muttered with insecurity.

A small awkward silence lingered.

“But you think he’s hot?” Jirou added teasingly.

“Jirou, what do you think about Denki??” She snapped back.

I had to cover my mouth being laughing to loud.

“WHAT?! Who told you?!.... MINA!!!” She crouched over Sutomu and made a jump at me. I screamed in laughter as my friend tried to tackle me into a headlock, Sutomu laughing in the background.

A soft knock broke our attention up.

“Who is it?” Jirou called.

“Is Sutomu and Mina in there?” Kirishima’s voice called.

Suto’s eyebrows furrowed, noticing Kirishima never calls her by her full first name anymore.

-Sutomu-

I answered the door to a cornered Eijirou. “Hey, Eiji. What’s going on?” I asked with worry.

“Can you and Mina come out here? Alone?”

Mina grabbed my hand. “Yeah, no problem.” She said with equal concern.

We waved to Jirou and followed Eijiro to an end of the hallway, furthest from the doors.

“Eijiro, what’s wrong?” 

He took a shakey breath. “Aizawa asked me to tell you. You’re mom is here.”


	28. Mother

At first, I was walking unsurely with my two friends. I use to wonder what I would say to my parents if I ever met them again but never did I expect it to happen. 

Exiting the dorms, I passed Shedo and Toriga. They asked what was going on but I just kept walking, I couldn’t budge my mind from who was out by the gates of the school. Eijiro asked them politely not to follow.

Mina caught up to my pace, which I hadn’t notice was start to pick up. “Sutomu, are you going to be ok? You don’t have to do this. No one is making you.”

“I just... I just need to know why.” My voice cracked.

The rest of the steps were a blur as my mind raced with question after question. I stopped walking when she came into view. A middle-aged woman with her blonde hair in a messy and lazy bun was anxiously pacing by the gates. She had aged over the near 5 years. Possibly more than she should for her age.

Eijiro placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “We’ll be back here. Let us know if you need us.”

I didn’t acknowledge the words and let his hand slip from my shoulder. My feet lead me forward at a much slower pace and my heart nearly stopped when we made eye contact.

Her eyes were glossed over. A big smile filled her features. “Sutomu! It’s really you” She flung her arms open and took a few quickly-paced footsteps towards me. I instinctively backed away from her. She halted her attempt and the smile dropped from her face.

“Why are you here?” I uttered.

She lowered her arms and looked to the ground sadly. “I suppose I deserve that.”

My arms were crossed tightly over my chest as I waited for her to answer me, still unbelieving of what was happening.

“I saw you on the news the other day. You were fighting that villain and I was so happy to hear you were attending U.A! But then he attacked you and I thought my heart was going to give out but then you defended yourself and, baby, you fought back and won! I was just so ecstatic to see you were doing ok! I just had to try and reach out to you again, even if you may not have wanted to see me.”

My feelings started to become clearer to me every second I was in her presence.

“You would have been right,” I spoke coldly.

She flinched at my words but sadly shook her head. 

“I guess I shouldn’t dance around the obvious. The second you left, your father and I instantly regretted-“

“When I left?!” I spoke the words slowly. She seriously didn’t just say that, right? “I didn’t “leave”, I was taken away! You had me hauled away because you couldn’t stand my quirk!”

“Honey, you have to understand-“

“First of all, don’t call me that. You have no god damn right to call me that! And second of all, I don’t have to understand shit!” My heart began to race with all the hate and confusion I festered over the years. “You were my parents! I needed you to love me and tell me everything was ok! And don’t you dare pretend this all started when you had that bitch of a hag lock me up, this started YEARS before all of that!”

“Sutomu, we were scared! Your quirk became so strong so quickly, we didn’t know what to do!”

“SO YOU SHUN OUT YOUR DAUGHTER?!”

I didn’t know I was crying until my vision blurred.

“WE DIDNT KNOW ANY BETTER!” She cried back.

“Do you have any idea what that woman put me through? The psychical and mental pain she inflicted on me! The torture she put my body through to silence my quirk! THE PEOPLE SHE MADE ME HURT?! WELL YOU WEREN’T THE ONLY ONE WHO FOUND ME BECAUSE OF THAT FIGHT! THAT FUCKING HAG FOUND US TOO!” I aggressively pointed to the school behind me. “SHE HID HER IDENTITY AND SNUCK IN THE SCHOOL JUST TO TRY AND KILL US!”

She looked taken back. “Sutomu... what did they do to you in there?”

I looked away, trying to take a breath.

“Exactly what you signed up for.”

She stood quiet for a moment. “...We did try to get you back. We came to the school the next day and begged to take you home, but the doctor told us we didn’t just sign you into their care, we gave up custody completely. We didn’t know we made you an orphan.”

I swung my glare back to her. “Is that supposed to make me feel better? You cut out your only child and gave her a way, but “oh wait! You regretted it!” so it’s ok?!”

“Honey, that’s not what I’m-“

“DON’T. FUCKING. CALL ME THAT!” A pulse rang through me, shutting off the street lights in front of the school. She recoiled from the strength.

I closed my eyes and tilted my head downwards and away. Breath, Sutomu. Remember what your therapist taught you. Deep breaths.

I took one deep breath before opening my eyes. I swished an open palm towards the light posts and they flickered back to life. 

“You’ve gotten so much stronger.” She stated.

“And? Does that scare you more?” I snarled.

Unexpectedly, she genuinely smiled. “No, I’m proud.”

“Well good for you, you’re proud now. You bet on the wrong horse and now you’re kicking your ass over it. Just leave. You came, you apologized. Now you two can start to feel better about yourselves.” I turned to leave.

“Your father died.” She muttered.

I came to a full stop, refusing to look back at her.

“A few weeks after we let them take you away. We took so much legal action to get you back but their paperwork was flawless and we couldn’t find a loophole. One day, his heart just gave out.”

Part of me was hurt by that news, but a bigger part of me was still hurt and bitter. The bigger part spoke.

“So what? You decided to try me with some shit apology instead of following him?” My teeth clenched, rage seething through. “Don’t come back here. Don’t reach out to me. Just leave me alone, Arakuru.”

Calling her by her last name was meant to be the final blow. I wanted nothing to do with this woman anymore. My life was better without her.

I didn’t look back, I walked past my friends and just tried to hold it together. I would have just phased back to the dorm but I need the breath of fresh air.

But even if I stayed outside all night, it wouldn’t have been enough to calm me down. I barged through the dorm doors, pulling more attention to myself than I needed but kept walking. Without properly looking I bumped Bakugo’s shoulder walking past him.

He went to grab my arm. “What the hell is your prob-“

I smacked his hand away and raised my hands besides my face to back away from him. “Do not! Fucking touch me!”

I didn’t even glance at his reaction and just kept speed walking towards my room.

By the time I got to the top floor, I was completely alone. I stood out in the hallway by my door and just tried to catch my breath. Another flow of rage came and I picked up one of the small decorative vases that fashioned our dorm hallways.

“I JUST CAN'T GET A FUCKING BREAK!” I threw the vase against the wall.

The loud shatter came and went, stinging my ears. But then it was just silence.

God, what the hell am I doing...?

The shame rose in me and I fell to my knees in the hallway. My friends will probably hate me when they find out what I said to her. When they find out how my anger issues made me break something that wasn’t mine. I can't control my emotions, I can't control my quirk, I can't control myself. I really don’t belong here. Maybe I am a monster.

I looked back up to the vase. The pieces were mainly a bigger size. I rubbed my tear-soaked eyes and picked up as many of the pieces as I could, promising I’ll fix it later.

Once I was in the privacy of my room, I dropped all the pieces on my desk, only then noticing the cuts on my fingers.

I sighed to myself, seeing this as just karma. I put half-ass bandages over the cuts and sunk to the floor by my bed. The sadness and stress from the past few weeks overwhelmed all my senses. I nearly died in that fight, the madam found us and I almost died again, and now this woman comes around expecting me to forgive the fact she’s the reason I went through all this torture in the first place.

But why did I tell her to die?

I dropped my head into my crossed arms over my knees. For once I begged no one would come for me. None of my friends would knock on my door. I didn’t deserve it. I just wanted to cry alone.

-No One-

She didn’t know they heard her scream. She didn’t know they heard the glass shatter. She expected Eijiro and Mina would fill them in, but she didn’t expect the sympathy they had for her. She didn’t know Bakugo thought nothing of the outburst either, but only wondered if she was going to be ok. 

Everyone agreed it was for the best to leave her alone for the night and give her time to cope with everything.


	29. Electrotherapy

-Sutomu-

It was very late. Almost 3 AM, but I still couldn’t sleep. All the shame and embarrassment burned at my mind. 

Why did I do this? Why did I do that? Why didn’t I do this? Why didn’t I do that?

I knew this would be a sleepless night and I wouldn’t be getting much rest. A bright flash of lightning out my window confirmed that, followed by the rumble of Thunder. 

I kicked my legs off my bed and stared at the window. I always adored lightning storms. Just surges of electricity doing whatever they wanted where they wanted. They bent their will for no one. I was jealous. 

I figured if I couldn’t sleep, I might as well be doing something productive with my body.

Phasing into the outlet, I led myself to the roof. When I solidify on the concrete roof, I take a deep breath of air. 

A flash of lightning nearby made me jump. My heart was racing but there was a big smile on my face. The adrenaline of watching the lightning strike was making me envious. Unapologetic. No fear of consequences.

The hairs on the back of my neck began to stand up and a surge of embers flowed through my veins.

Call it the adrenaline, but I finally feel the confidence I needed. I felt ready to use my quirk at its full strength. I clenched my fists, closed my eyes, and steadied my breath.

Then I let it go.

A quick zap, and then the chirping surrounded me. I opened my eyes and just felt pure energy. The new surge of confidence had my heart racing. So much that I had to throw out a lighting strike of my own into the air in front of me.

“Holy shit that felt good!” I cheered, my voice coming out in buzzes.

I gave it another throw, and then another, and then another, the noise could be mistaken as thunder. I haven’t felt this good in weeks. I felt as though I was finally letting things go in a way only I knew. Bursts of violent energy.

I began to lose feeling in my legs after so long and decided it was time to stop for the night. I closed my eyes and waited for the moment of truth if I can turn back.

I relaxed and let go of that fear.

“-shit!” I yelped, falling on my butt. I already forgot my legs were gone, dissolved up to my mid-thighs. 

“I really need to watch that...” I giggled to myself, scratching my head.

I rolled onto my stomach and crawled to the same outlet I phased up through. A quick reach and I was able to send myself back to my bedroom, fully intact.

I stood in my darkroom for a moment before squealing to myself silently. I did it! I became full of electricity and survived! I couldn’t wait to tell Katsuki- oh...

‘DO NOT. FUCKING TOUCH ME!’

My shame began to come back. I never snapped at him like that before and he didn’t deserve that. I had to find some way to apologize tomorrow.

I looked at the clock and saw it was going on 4 AM. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My hair had changed color from blonde to a more bright yellow, and had curled making my hair more volumous like a messy bed head. But it wasn’t like that when I left my room? I tried to brush it down but the soft curls kept springing back into place.

Maybe the long term in my full-body surge did this? Well... this was a thing now I guess, but damn it kind of looked cute!

It was already so early and there was no way I could sleep with all this excitement. Maybe I can start making breakfast for everyone as an apology? I’m sure if I start now, I could have everything cooked and ready by the time they wake up. 

A big smile on my face confirmed the plan and I phased myself through the socket once again and into the kitchen to start my work. I tied my new fluffy hair and got to work.

——————————————

“Good morning!” I chirped to the first tired group of my classmates.

“What smells so good?” Ochacka yawned.

“Looks like Sutomu cooked for us!” Hagakure cheered. 

“Why are you up so early, Suto?” Ejirou rubbed his eyes.

I awkwardly smiled. “I’m embarrassed about how I acted yesterday and wanted to apologize. Things have been one thing after another and I reacted poorly. I figured this was the first step to make you guys not hate me.”

“Aw, Suto!” Mina jumped me into a tight neck hug, she lifted her feet off the ground, leaving me to support her with my arms around her waist. “You don’t need to do this. We love you and we understand! We’re here for you. Mainly me though. I’m the best.”

“Fuck off!” Eijiro joked. 

She slid off me with a big goofy smile. “Here.” I handed Mina her a plate. “Enjoy.”

She gave me a friendly kiss on the cheek and thanked me. I rolled my eyes at my friend’s knack for over affection. The rest of the students joined us and thanked me for the breakfast. I sat at the end of the island, the seat next to me newly vacant from Jirou before someone else pulled the chair out and sat his plate next to mine.

“‘Food is pretty good.” He muttered lowly, not looking up from his food. If I wasn’t right next to him, I wouldn’t know he was talking to me at all. “Whats with your hair?”

“Thanks!” I faked enthusiasm while trying to figure out how to apologize. “My quirk went off a bit during my tantrum and now I don't know how to make my hair normal again...” I didn’t like lying to him, but it beat having to get a patented Katsuki lecture for not sleeping last night.

He side eyed me. I could tell he was poking holes in my story, but looked back down to his food. “Are you ok?” 

I took a bite from my food and slightly nodded. “Yeah, a little. I’m sorry about yesterday. I was angry and confused and you just happened to get in the line of fire. Nonetheless, you didn’t deserve that.”

He huffed a laugh. “You think I care?”

I bit the inside of my cheek. No, of course, he wouldn’t. I probably care about what he thinks of me more than he cares what I think of him. 

He lifted his hand and hovered it towards my arm. “Hey, I didn’t mean-“

Aizawa stepped into the dorm rooms before Katsuki could finish that thought. He told everyone we have enjoyed breakfast long enough and it was time for class. Of course the standard “if you’re late you’re expelled” threat followed.

———————————————————

After class, I joined my gang on the couch in the dorm lobby. I wanted to go to sleep but I didn’t think shutting myself off from them after apologizing would look good. 

“Suto, are you doing ok?” Jirou nudged my knee. “You’ve been quiet.”

I snapped out of my daze and nodded with a smile. “Yeah, I’m fine! Just a little stressed.”

“I don’t blame you. If my mom came back around after- OW!” Bakugo punched Denki in the arm mid-sentence.

“Seriously dude shut the fuck up!” Ejirou added. 

“Shit sorry, Suto!”

I flashed a quick smile. “Don’t worry. I’m ok. I said what I wanted and it’s over. I’m relieved.”

Their faces said they weren’t convinced. Even I wasn’t convinced... Bakugo was a little harder to read, as he kept his gaze out the window.

Denki suddenly stood up. “Jirou!” He beamed down at her.

“What?” She raised an eyebrow at him.

He handed her his phone. “PLAY THIS!”

She took his phone and glanced at the screen. “No way...” she tried to hand it back.

“Pleeeease! It’ll help Suto feel better!”

Now I was interested.

She rolled her eyes. “Fine, dork. But only because it’s for Sutomu.”

She hooked his phone up to her boots and played the song. Denki stood up in front of everyone and started dancing, Sero and Eijiro started whooping and hollering at the song choice.

“Hello, hello, I know it's been a while but baby!” Denki started singing loudly and badly. “I got something that I really wanna let you know, yeah  
Something that I wanna let you know!”

“OH OH! NOW ME!” Eijiro stood up to join him. “You say you say to everybody that you hate me  
Couldn't blame you 'cause I know I left you all alone, yeah  
I know that I left you all alone!”

Sero then slid in next to them “And yeah, now I'm back at your door  
You're lookin' at me unsure  
I should've seen it before  
You're all I think about, baby!”

They shouted the chorus while dancing badly. Some of our other classmates gathered and giggled at the guys performing. I lost it when Denki slide on the floor on his knees during the last “Hey you, you're still the one!!!”.

The song ended and I was in tears from laughing so hard. Jirou tried to suppress a smile when she threw his phone back at him telling him to never taint her speaker boots with that kind of music again.

Shedo and Toriga were also weak at the knees giggling in the background, a sight that always warmed my heart.

I wish I would have seen the small smile Katsuki was hiding behind his hand.


	30. Exhaustion

That night I, once again, found myself wide awake well into the night. I stared at my ceiling, a feeling of unease washing over me. 

‘She knows where we are... she knows what class we’re in. It wouldn’t be hard for her to find our dorms, our class number is written on the damn building...’

I turned to my side, hugging myself to soothe my anxious nerves. I stared out my window. The white transparent blinds kept out most of the light but the glow of the campus street lamps still blurred through. 

My gaze never moved from the window, as if I was just waiting to see a figure move in front of it. There’s no way she’d know which room was mine... I had to keep telling myself that. 

How long will I fear this woman. Now that she knows where we are, how long will I jump at the slightest of sounds or always looking over my shoulder. 

And then my mother. The guilt from my words still burned in my head. I didn’t forgive her, and I may never forgive her, but I shouldn’t have acted so careless over my father. I knew she loved him and hearing me say that must have hurt her a lot.

No. Don’t sympathize with her. They lost every right to be in my life the day they shunned me out of theirs.

‘Stop’. I whispered to myself. My mind was at war with itself again and when it got like that, those voices became loud. 

My grip on my arms tightened. Another sleepless night was almost guaranteed.

My mind drifted to last night. The power and relief I felt from my quirks full potential was an emotion I missed already. I could easily slip to the roof again to get that feeling once again...

Not another moment goes by before my feet come into contact with the cold hardwood floor. I confidently start heading toward my outlet again before stopping to consider once more.

If I do this, I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight. But... that may be the case nonetheless if I stay.

I weighed the options in my head before telling myself I need this. I need to feel in control something, if not my own life. I need to feel like I can actually DO something.

So I found myself on the roof again in my Full Surge with a big smile on my face. This feeling was addictive. 

That night I threw a lot of powerful throws. I started off small, not wanting to alert my classmates. But then I realized the sounds weren’t too far off from sounding like another lightning storm, so I just kept going and going and going.

—————————————-

-The next morning-

“SUTO!” Sero yelled in my ear.

I flinched, batting his hand from his placement on my arm.

“JESUS FUCK SERO! DON’T SNEAK UP ON ME LIKE THAT!”

“Sneak up on you?” He looked concerned. “I’ve been calling your name like... eight times now. You haven’t touched your food, are you ok?”

I blinked a couple of times and glanced at my untouched food, I forgot I was in the cafeteria eating lunch. “Oh. Right. Sorry. I must have zoned out.”

“You look exhausted, Suto.” Eijiro asked at his spot across from me. “You doin’ alright?”

I smiled politely and grabbed my fork, taking the cut chicken into my mouth. “Yeah, I’m fine. That storm just kept me up for a while.”

“Oh right, that was weird wasn’t it?” Mina looked between us. “I didn’t think there was going to be another storm last night.”

Denki chuckled. “That’s Japan for ya.”

“Anyway, as I was saying.” Sero nudged me. “I was trying to ask you what happened with your hair?”

“Oh, right. I must not have told you guys.”

“I just thought you forgot to brush it yesterday.” Jirou chuckled.

I shook my head politely. “No, the other night I shocked myself in the head like an idiot and I guess this is permanent now?”

“HA! I’ve done that!” Denki chuckled.

“You always shock yourself in the head. You do it to the point of going stupid.” Jirou jabbed.

“Hey, there you are man!” Eiji greeted Bakugo. “You left suddenly, everything good?”

Katsuki sat back down in his seat on the other side of me and tossed his phone back in his bag.

“The old hag called to tell me it’s my dad’s birthday this weekend and she wants me to come home to celebrate.”

“Ooo fun! You gonna go see ya mom and dad?” Sero asked from around me.

Katsuki huffed a laugh. “Like I have a choice. If I didn’t go the hag would probably kick my door down and try to drag me out.”

Is he talking about his mom...?

Our friends returned to their own conversation, but I was still curious. “So you’re gonna go?” I asked to clarify.

“She tried to bribe me by saying shes going to make the food I like. As if I can’t just make that shit myself...” He glared down at his food. “Like I want to go home just to watch the old man get older.”

He’s talking about both his parents like this? From what it sounds like, his parents just want to see him and he was sounding ungrateful of it. For some reason, that really fucking bothered me.

“So I see you’re awake now.” He pointed out in his normal tone, biting into his food. “You were basically drooling on your own arm.”

I closed my eyes for a second to keep my sudden pet peeve in check. I opened them and kept digging into my food. “Yeah.”

He kept his voice low and his face on his food, keeping our conversation inconspicuous. “What’s with you.”

I slammed my fork down on a piece of chicken a little harder than normal. “I’m tired, Katsuki.”

He huffed an aggravated laugh. “Yeah no shit. Why aren’t you sleeping?”

“Storm was too loud.” I snapped, still refusing to look up from my food.

“Alright, jeez.” I could almost hear the eye roll in his voice. “No need to bite my head off.”

His phone went off, causing me to jump in my seat. He paused before answering it, muttering something about how jumpy I’m being. He took one look at the caller ID and stood from his seat.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT NOW, WOMAN?!” He barked into the phone, walking away from the table again.

“Hey Eijiro.” I called to him without taking my eyes off Katsuki’s retreating form.

“What’s up?”

I turned my full attention to him and motioned after Katsuki with my fork. “Does he always talk about to his parents like that?”

He chuckled and nodded his head. “Yeah, you should see his mom scream back though. I see where he gets it from, honestly. Wonderful woman though, she’s really nice to me.”

“Kind of hot, too.” Denki snickered.

“Ew, dork.” Jirou laughed. “You realize she’s just Bakugo with boobs right?”

His face scrunched in disgust. “God damn it, Jirou! Why’d you have to put it like that!!

I took a deep breath and tried to not think about things that didn’t involve me.


	31. I Hate You

Another day later and another sleepless night. Those nights were a sudden wave of energy that I so desperately needed and I knew I was becoming addicted to it. Ironically, it was the energy I needed since couldn’t sleep in the first place. I’ve been burning on coffee and naps after class. After seeing how tired I was, Katsuki refused to let me train with him. He called me “a walking accident waiting to happen”. It was probably for the best that I wasn’t around him much because of the arguments I kept overhearing with his mom.

“GOD DAMN IT KATSUKI, SAY I LOVE YOU BACK, YOU INGRATE!” I could hear his mom scream into his ear over the phone.

“FUCK YOU, OLD WOMAN I DON’T HAVE TO SAY SHIT! STOP BOTHERING ME, I SAID I WOULD GO!”

“IF YOU’RE GOING, YOU CAN PICK UP YOUR DAD’S GIFT FROM THE JEWELERS THEN!”

“LIKE HELL! THAT WATCH WAS YOUR IDEA WHY DO I HAVE TO GET IT?!”

The argument went like that for a while. I was sitting in the common area with Eijiro and Sero.

I felt a cold hand press itself to my forehead, making me jump in my skin.

“You don’t have a fever...” Eiji spoke to himself. I didn’t notice before but my head was leaning on his shoulder. “But still, you don’t look too good. Maybe you should go to bed, Suto? You’re starting to worry me.”

“Those lightning storms have been pretty bad lately.” Sero crossed his arms and leaned back into the sofa. “I would think your quirk would make you immune to the sounds or something.”

I moved to sit up straight and stretched my arms. “That’s not how my quirk works sadly. I can absorb and project my body’s electricity and that’s it.”

“Jesus fucking Christ, this woman won’t leave me alone!” Bakugo plopped himself on the sofa across from us and shoved his phone back into his pocket. 

I didn’t notice I was glaring at him. His glance met mine and noticed my scowl. His eyes widened and looked taken back by my unprompted (to his knowledge) and exhausted look. I only kept eye contact for a second or two before moving my attention elsewhere. 

“Suto, you know I love you but you look like shit right now.” Eijiro moved into my line of vision. He stood up and held out both his hands. “Come on, let’s get you back into your room. You should call it a night.”

I placed both of my hands in his and allowed him to pull me up. Once he was confident I could walk on my own, he motioned me to walk in front of him so he can escort me back to my room. 

We were in the elevator and a couple of floors up before he said anything.

“Sutomu, seriously is something going on? You’ve been incredibly sleep-deprived the past three nights. Is it just the storms keeping you up or is it something else?”

I shrug, avoiding eye contact. “It’s nothing, Eiji.” I hoped using his nickname would get him off my case a little.

“You seem to be annoyed at Bakugo lately, too. Did he do something because I can and will kick his ass for you.”

“What is this, Ejirou?!” I snapped at him. “I’m just tired, I can’t sleep! That’s it! Why is everyone so keen on interrogating me, lately?! Did I commit a fucking crime?!”

His eyebrows furrowed and he crossed his arms, turning his body towards me.

“See, that’s what I mean!” His voice was stern. “You have NEVER yelled at me like that, EVER! I get you’re tired but you’re falling asleep during lunch and classes, you’re snapping at your friends, that’s not like you, Suto.”

I pressed my hands tightly over my eyes. The lights in the elevator were suddenly too bright and were giving me a headache.

“Ok... ok. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I don’t like fighting with you and I didn’t mean to start anything. I just need sleep...”

He pulls me in a friendly hug before the elevator reached our floor. “I know. You’ve been insanely stressed lately so I understand why that must be hard. But you need to do something for yourself before you pass out and get hurt.”

The elevator doors open and he released me. He put a protective arm around my shoulder and lead me down the hall to my dorm.

“Thanks, Eiji. I’ll try and get some sleep now.”

“That’s all I’m asking.” He leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “Get some sleep and text me if you need anything. I expect my adorable and wide awake best friend back tomorrow morning!”

I rolled my eyes and waved him off.

Once I was in my room, I plopped myself in my bed and shoved my face in my pillow. 

‘Way to go. You yelled at your best friend. You just can’t help proving how useless you can be, can you? And now you’re falling asleep in class? You’re going to be kicked out of the heroes close in no time, and then you’ll never see your any of your friends again.’

I was too tired to fight back with the voices of my insecurities. I closed my eyes and let myself blank out. 

——————————————————

I slept for almost four hours before a loud crash woke me up. I looked around my room frantically, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. When I heard the patter of rain outside, I understood what I heard was an ACTUAL storm... how fitting. I try to sleep and then a real storm hits.

But maybe that’s a good thing? A real storm means more wiggle room for bigger attacks...

No! I can’t. I couldn’t go another day with almost no sleep, and Eijiro is already so worried about me...

The lightning beckoned to me again. Never had I thought I would be seduced by a rainstorm but here I was, walking towards my outlet once again.

“Just for a few minutes... then I’ll go to bed...”

I encouraged myself with small phrases in my head. “This makes me happy, I should do it.” “This makes me stronger. No pain no gain!”

Not too long went by before I felt the rain on my face. 

“Just a few minutes is all I need...”

I closed my eyes and held my arms open. I released my quirk and let the sensation take over my body. But something was different. I didn’t feel the normal shot of adrenaline to through my heart, instead I only felt small vibrations on my silhouette, confirming I was in Full Surge, but I still felt exhausted. 

Maybe I just need to wake up a little? I shook my hands out, trying to loosen up, and reached them back in front of me. I pushed the access power out as a projectile but the attack was less than satisfactory.

“No no, come on!”

The sizzle gave out and I landed on my feet to the concrete, which was only a few inches below me.

I looked down at my arms, exhaustion was starting to set in.

“Come on, you can’t take this from me too...!”

I shook my hands out, a few sparks snapping around my arms.

“FUCK!” I growled.

“What the fuck are you doing?!”

My head snapped towards and angry Bakugo, standing with his arms crossed and his eyebrows furrowed deeply. I was so distracted that I didn’t hear the metal door to the stairway open.

I clenched my jaw and tried to ignore him. I closed my eyes and tried to turn back into Full Surge. The sparks started snapping violently around me but ultimately fizzled out into nothing. 

He quickly walked towards me. “Sutomu, stop! What the hell do you think you’re doing out here this late?!”

I didn’t meet his glare “Go back to bed, Bakugo.” I spoke harshly.

“Is this why you haven’t been sleeping, you idiot?!” He barked. “I figured those weird storms had to have something to do with you. Have you seriously been out here every night just to throw some punches?”

I growled to myself and barked back. “Bakugo, FUCK. OFF.”

He looked unfazed by my outburst and grabbed me by the arm. “You need to get back to bed, moron. You’re going to wear yourself out from overworking your body like this!”

“Let go of me!” I tried to swing out of his grip to no avail as he pulled me along.

“We’ll talk about this tomorrow, but right now, your dumbass looks like you’re going to pass out at any moment.”

I didn’t notice I was getting wobbly or my eyelids were getting heavy. 

“I FUCKING HATE YOU!” I snapped.

He looked back at me with his deep scowl on his face. “Excuse me?”

“I said-!” I smacked his arm off of mine, taking a step back from him. “I. FUCKING. HATE YOU!”

He crossed his arms and cocked his eyebrow. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“You have a loving family, a father who supports you, a mother who wants you around! But all you do is scream and insult them! Do you realize how much I would fucking kill for that...?” My voice cracked at the end.

The realization hits him and his eyebrows relax from their scornful look.

“You just don’t. fucking. get it. You don’t understand how much you have, but you still act like you’d be better off without them.” The rain would have perfectly masked my tears if my eyes weren’t burning red. “Well let me tell you, i’ve been without it, and it’s a fucking endless hell! I spend countless nights wondering why I wasn’t good enough! Why I was born with a quirk my own parents were scared of! I loved them so much but because of this fucking quirk they didn’t love me!”

His eyes softened. “Sutomu... I-“

“Your quirk is so much stronger and more dangerous than over half the kids in that home, yet your parents are still proud of you! I bet they boast about you to all their friends about how fucking proud they are that their son is top of his fucking class at U.A.! And I bet, that no matter how you treat them, they still accept you into their lives with lov-loving fucking arms!” One of my knees almost gave out on me.

Bakugo’s eyes widen in concern and he takes one quick step towards me. “Sutomu-!” I back away from him again, straightening myself out.

“N-No! You don’t get it! You could never get it! I’m TRYING to be normal. I’m TRYING to act like I’m ok and everything is fine. But the second I saw my mother again, I KNEW I would never truly be alright! Because no matter how much I fucking hate her, no matter how much I keep her out of my life, I’ll... I’ll always still want her to hold me again! I still want h-her to tell me she loves me and that everything will be ok! I sp-spent count...less nights, begging for my q-quirk to disappear. I just- I just want to have my mom back. The mom I h-had before my quirk started to.... started to... get outta-... outta-“ my eyes rolled back into my head and my legs gave out.

-Bakugo-

She wasn’t able to finish her sentence when she finally began to fall. I cursed under my breath, making a quick grab her arm and pulling her into me. Once I had her, I wiped some of the rain off her face and assessed she had completely passed out.

“Jesus fuck, Sutomu...”

I gathered her into my arms and picked her up. I made sure I had a firm hold of her before making my way back to the steps.

I tried to carefully open the door with her still in my arms, but when the door fully opened I was met with Kirishima’s concerned gaze.

He took one look at her, sighed and softly shook his head.

“God damn it, Suto...” he held the door the rest of the way open and let me in. I didn’t say a word when I walked past him with her.

“Bakugo...”

I stopped, not looking back.

“She didn’t mean it... You know that, right? She could never hate you.”

I took a glance down at her sleeping form but just kept walking. 

I took her back into her room and laid her back in her bed. I made sure the blankets fully covered her and, before I left, I scribbled a quick note on her nightstand telling her I would tell Aizawa she was sick and she would need to miss class. I then slipped back into the hallway and went back to my bed, feeling exhausted myself.


	32. Teenagers are Awkward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I LIVE for the romantically awkward teenage Bakugo <3

-Sutomu-

When I awoke, the first thought was the panic of being late for class. It was near 1 pm and I was still in bed!

“Shit!” I shot out from the covers and frantically started putting my uniform together. How could I have possibly slept in this long?!

I made a grab for my phone to let Shedo and Toriga know I was on my way, but my hand came to a halt over the device, noticing a note on it.

I picked up the small sticky note and recognize Katsuki’s handwriting.

“Hey, idiot.  
I’ll tell Aizawa you were sick this morning, so just rest and catch up on your sleep. Also, if you fucking do this shit again, I will tell Aizawa you’re putting yourself in danger.”

I took a moment to reflect on what had happened. Katsuki caught me outside last night and we had a fight.

My hand quickly slapped over my mouth when I remembered what I said. Tears streamed down my face and over my hand. I told him I hated him. I was so exhausted, I wasn’t thinking straight... My jealousy got the best of me and I told him something I could didn’t mean, something I could NEVER mean.

“God damn it...” I sat on the side of my bed and covered my face with my hands. I hunched over and supported myself on my elbows on my legs. “... I didn’t mean it! I didn’t mean it!” I repeated to myself over and over.

He’s done so much for me by this point. He worked with me to strengthen my abilities, he didn’t judge me when I came clean about everything... It’s because of him, I learned so much about my quirk and myself. I trusted him with my secrets and he only showed support and even knew how to make me feel better, in his own way of course.

He’s not one to show his feelings, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have them. Or worst, maybe now he just hates me... maybe I officially ruined things. 

My tears fell harder thinking of moving forward without him. He’s become one of my closest friends and I just pushed him away...

I told myself I’ll apologize to him when he gets back from class. He’ll probably go train for a couple of hours too... my anxiety spiked, thinking I’ll have to wait so long to clear things up.

I lied back down in my bed and stared at the ceiling. How could I even apologize about something like that? He’s probably also angry that I was overworking myself.

My thoughts drifted to Toriga. She accidentally killed her parents because she was sleep-deprived. If I had hurt Katsuki like that... I wouldn’t blame him for hating me, I would never forgive myself either.

I rolled to my side and tried to go back to sleep. It took some time before my heart could ease itself and let me take a nap.

A few hours went by when I heard a knock at my door. I stood out of my bed and stretched a little before opening the door to an annoyed Eijiro.

“Hi, Eji.” I sleepily greeted him.

“Don’t give me that. We need to talk.” He pushed past me and shut the door. “What the fuck were you thinking, Sutomu.”

My face dropped. “How did you-“

“I was there. You could have hurt yourself! You’re still learning about your quirk yet you thought it was the best fucking idea to experiment on your own?!”

My eyes began to flood with tears again thinking Eijiro was mad at me too. I Sat on the edge of my bed and tried explaining myself as best as I could. He listened begrudgingly from his seat at my desk but didn’t look satisfied by my answer. 

“That’s still no excuse for what could have happened to you...” his voice lowered with a sad look on his face. “Do you know what you said to Bakugo?”

I nodded as the tears fell faster. “But I didn’t mean it!”

“Tell him that then.” He stood up and motioned for me to stand up to. I obeyed and he pulled me into a friendly hug. “I’m sorry for yelling, but you had me worried, Sutomu. I don’t want you to disappear from my life again.”

I shook my head in his hold. “I know. I’m sorry. It will never happen again.”

“Please.” He kissed the top of my head again. “I’m glad you’re ok. Are you feeling alright?”

I softly nodded. “A little. I’m still a little tired and my muscles are sore. Did you see where Bakugo went?”

He step back from me and gave me a tiny smile. “Yeah, he grabbed something to eat and went off to his room. Probably to get started on his homework. You going to see him?”

My head dropped. “If he’ll even want to talk to me. But I’ll try.”

He pat my shoulder twice before backing out of my room. “Oh, he will. But I’m going to head downstairs and make some food. Feel free to join me afterward. If you're not too busy crying like a baby that is.” He stuck his tongue out at me.

“GTFO boy before I whoop your ass.” I weakly threatened, flipping the bird and shutting my door behind him.

He returned the gesture and turned the corner in the hall, out of my sight.

I took a deep breath before taking my first step to the other side of the dorms. I had no idea what to say or if he’ll even want to talk to me but I had to at least try.

—————————

I took one last deep breath before knocking on his door. I knew he was in because he was blasting his metal playlist.

“WHAT?! IM FUCKING BUSY!” I should be used to these outbursts but my nerves were already on edge.

My mouth moved to find something to say but I couldn’t think of the right words. 

“UGH!” He groaned. The music stopped and he swung the door open. “Who the fuck-!” He stopped mid threat when he saw my pathetic looking self. I must have looked like a mess with my bed head and the bags under my eyes. For a second we awkwardly stared at each other, waiting for someone to speak first.

He blinked once or twice before returning to his normal resting scowl.

“Good timing. Aizawa gave me your homework, I’ll get it.” He turned to walk further into his room, leaving the door open. It wasn’t an invitation to follow him, but I needed to talk to him in private. I stepped in and shut the door behind me.

He looked back at me with his eyebrow arched, not expecting me to just step in with out permission like I normally ask for. 

I stared at the ground, hugged myself, trying to find the right words. His shoulders drooped in a deep sigh and he dropped the papers back on his desk. 

“Sutomu.” He awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, eyes still fixed on the desk. “What the hell were you thinking?”

The way he said my name hurt me. I could hear how disappointed he was. I squeezed my arms tighter.

“I-I wasn’t.” I started. “It was just supposed to be a one-time thing. I was so angry and emotionally confused, I just had to burn off some steam... but then it became an addictive feeling. I felt in complete control of myself for the first time in my life. I felt strong, invincible. Like I could do anything I wanted in that state. And then it got out of hand...”

He crossed his arms and slowly turned his body to face mine. “Do you realize the kind of danger you put yourself into?” I prepared myself for the same speech Eijiro gave me. “Do you not remember the last time you went Full Surge when you lost your ability to think and act?! You were only able to come out of it because Miruko was there to keep you in check! What would have happened to you had you lost control again and couldn’t-“

He continued to rant about my well being. He cared so much and I only put him through more trouble. And then I said those awful, awful things to him... My light tears became heavier as he scolded on until I must have become so pathetic he had to stop.

“Suto?” He spoke softer than I deserved.

My hands came to the aid of my eyes, desperately trying to wipe away the flood of tears.

“I didn’t mean it. You have to believe me! I didn’t mean it!” My sobbing became uncontrollable. “I was so tired, I wasn’t thinking, and then I said something so terrible to you. I’m sorry! I’m really really sorry!”

My eyes were tightly pressed shut, trying to control the tears. Bakugo’s hand pressed itself on my back and pushed me into his chest. One arm wrapped itself protectively around my waist while the other’s hand held the back of my head into him. My hands clawed into his forearms to press myself tighter into him, shoving my tear-stained eyes into his shirt. 

“I know you didn’t mean it, idiot.” He spoke lowly. “You think I’m so dumb that I would take you seriously when you’re tired like that?”

“I’m sorry,” I repeated. “I’m really really sorry.” I sobbed into his chest.

He tenderly shushed me and rubbed small circles on my back.

“I don’t hate you... I don’t.” I hiccuped.

“I know. It’s alright, I’m not mad.”

“You mean so much to me. I could never hate you, and it couldn’t be further from the truth...”

His motions came to a sudden stop as he processed my words and meaning. A couple of moments had gone by before his arms released their tension. His arm unraveled from around my head and slipped themselves under mine to get a grip on my waist.

“Sutomu. Look at me... really quick?”

I pulled back and wiped my eyes in a pathetic attempt to dry them but his hand pulled my arm away from my face. The look in his eyes was unexpected. His face was almost deadpan, but his eyes told a different story. They looked back down into the mine with curiosity and affection. That’s when I was able to make sense of things.

His hand let go of my arm and instead slipped to one side of my face. His eyes scanned my features carefully, looking for any objections. I smiled up at him and that’s when things started making sense for him too.

He leaned down and placed a soft and careful kiss on my lips. I wasted no time in closing my eyes and returning the gesture. His hand that remained on my hip, slid itself around my back and pulled me closer into him. My body responded by snaking my arms around his neck.

I felt his cocky smirk against my lips, which made my heart flutter. 

As someone whose never been properly kissed before, I felt like I was being incredibly awkward. I just prayed he didn’t notice.

When we took the space between us back, he didn’t remove his grasp around my waist.

“Do not. ever. make me worry like that again. Got it?” He wanted to look serious, I’m sure. But the look of shock remained in his eyes...

I smiled and nodded, wiping the remaining tears from my eyes. “Ok.”

“Ok.” He said back. “Good.” He nodded his head back awkwardly. Like me, he was probably trying to figure out what to do from here.

His grasp left my body and I let him pull away and out of my arms.

The blush crept on his face and his hand rubbed the back of his neck, trying to find the words.

“And about the thing with my folks...”

I waved my hands frantically. “Don’t. It’s ok. That wasn’t my place. I’ve heard how your mother talks back to you and I get that it’s just how you communicate with each other and that’s ok. I was just projecting my insecurities on to you and you didn’t deserve that.” I was talking so fast I had to take a quick breath before continuing. “So, don’t worry about it. That was all on me.”

His expression was barely readable when he moved his stare to a blank space on the wall away from me. “I’m sorry your mother makes you feel like that...”

I weakly smiled. “Yeah. Me too.”

The awkward silence lingered once again. Katsuki turned back towards the work on his desk and handed it to me. 

“Um... we went over a lot today. Why don’t you, I don’t know... stay here for a bit so I can run through my notes with you?”

I warmly smiled and told him I would like that.

I followed his lead and sat on the floor. “Did I miss a lot?” I tried to change the subject.

“Yeah, so fucking pay attention.” He huffed, trying to pull back his tough exterior. Unfortunately, I would not be fooled so easily.

He grabbed his school book from his bag and placed it on his lap. He mumbled an excuse about helping me see better and scoot himself closer to me, his side firmly against mine. 

“S-stop grinning like that and pay attention, airhead!”

I shyly nodded and looked at the information he was reading to me.

That was probably the most awkward study session I’ve ever had. There was a thick tension in the air as we tried to focus on the work in front of us, but one of us would end up making eye contact with the other and a reminder of earlier would intrude on our thoughts. Being 16 and awkward is a fucking nightmare.

We, somehow, managed to finish our work. We sat in awkward silence, wondering how we should address what happened earlier and who would speak first. I kept my focus on his hand, which kept flexing into a tight fist before loosening. I know him well enough to understand he was also trying to find the words.

“Do you-“ He spoke quickly, probably wanting to say something before he could change his mind. “want to do that... more often?”

“Do what more often? Study?” I was genuinely confused. 

His side-eyed glare made my own grow wider.

I gasped when I understood this was his way of asking me out. “OH!... um... yeah. I wouldn’t mind... doing that more often.”

I have never seen him this much at a loss of words. Or this awkward. He bobbed his head, still avoiding eye contact. “Ok. Cool.”

I felt kind of bad that he was the one who had to gather the courage first, so I tried to gather my own.

I nudged his shoulder lightly. “In fact, I wouldn’t mind doing that a lot more often.”

“Yeah... me neither.”

“...Cool...”

Another awkward moment. “...Do you maybe want to do it again, right now?”

My heart stilled at his forwardness. 

A large smile emerged from my blushing face. “Yeah. That would be ok.”

We turned to face each other and tried to mimic how it happened earlier. He placed his hand on the side of my face to lead me into his lips.

Don’t get me wrong, this was all INCREDIBLY awkward. But the feeling I got from kissing him sent sparks. Literally.

“Ow!” He shot back from me with his fingers catering to the pain on his bottom lip. “What the hell was that for?!”

I clapped my hand over my own mouth and tried to stop the laugh. “I SWEAR! That was an accident!”

I tried my best to not laugh but I couldn’t help how awkward things were right now.

“I am soooo sorry!” I snorted another laugh.

He rolled his eyes with a smirk and a throat laugh.

“I change my mind, we’re not doing that anymore.”

I dropped my head onto his shoulder to hide the look on my face.

“Come on~ that was funny!”

He placed his palm on my forehead and pushed me off him. 

“I’m sure it was.” The look on his face betrayed the tone of his words. I was glad we were able to end the night on a laugh.

-No One-

That night, right before the both of them went to sleep in their beds, they reflected on the events of that day... and then cringed very hard at themselves.

This was one of those days that they never really brought up again.


	33. Mrs. Kirishima

A little over a week went by. It took a few days for me and Katsuki to shake that awkward energy between us, but that didn’t stop us from being around each other. We would meet for training and then try to finish up our homework in either my room or his (which often ended up with another kiss or two).

Katsuki is a very private person, so it was no surprise that he wanted to keep things away from other people. I went along with it believing it best to keep it between us in case things don’t work out.

He did a much better job of acting normal in public that I ever could. He could easily put on the Angry Boy attitude at any time. Me however, I struggled so much with trying to act normal, that I wasn’t acting normal. During hero training, it was a little hard to not notice how attractive he is in his hero costume. Or when we’re in rescue training and I have to pretend that I’m not fascinated with his quick wit. 

When Mina questioned it, I had to throw myself under the bus and chalk it up to my crush on him. She would give me hell about this for a while but she would always eventually move on to something else.

The awkwardness did eventually disappear as we became more and more use to each others new affections.

What started off as small chaste kisses here and there, eventually moved to either one of us reaching for the others hand while studying or eventually his arm draping around my shoulder.

But then the end of school year was quickly approach and everyone began to make their plans to see eachother over the break.

The three of us have been invited to stay with our friends over the summer. Shedo would stay with Midoriya’s family and Toriga would stay at the luxurious Yaoyorozu home. Me on the other hand...

The normal squad and I were gathered in the kitchen talking about our summer plans. Katsuki came in to make food so naturally, everyone else followed him (much to his aggravation). I was leaning slightly forward on the island counter, listening to Mina go on and on about amusement parks, concerts, and going to the beach. Katsuki was standing next to me eating his food and probably not even listening. I occasionally felt his leg brush against mine, breaking a cheeky smile on my face everytime because I knew he was doing it on purpose.

Denki just started to tease Jirou about her getting a bikini when my phone buzzed in my pant leg, making Katsuki jump at the sudden vibration. I paid him no mind (to try and remain subtle) and checked my phone. I was receiving a call from an unknown number.

“Who is this?” I asked myself before answering.

-Eijiro-

“It’s probably just spam.” I told her, but she answered anyway.

“Hello...? Oh!” Her eyes widened and her posture straightened. “Yeah um... hi, Mrs. Kirishima.” She eyed over to me with confusion.

“Oh son of a bitch...” I put my head in my hands. Mom embarrassing me to the rescue. I made the mistake and told my mother Suto had her own phone and she convinced me to give her her number “incase of emergencies”.

Suto paced a bit, nodding her head to whatever my mother said. 

“Oh you heard about that?... yeah I’m fine. I told her I didn’t want to see her again so... we’ll see how that goes...” she listened for a response before chuckling. 

“No, of course. You’re the only mom I need!!” She joked. “Oh really? Are you sure? I know you said something last time I saw you but I thought you were just being nice! .... no, I would love that! But only if your absolutely- yeah ok! I looked forward to it then! ... I’ll help you make dinner and clean the house for you to earn my keep, I swear! .... haha ok. Alrighty.... uh huh. Hahaha alright, love you too! Bye!”

She hung up the phone and looked straight to me. “Looks like you got a roommate for the summer!”

“WHAT NO FAIR!” Mina cried. “If I knew you were still looking for somewhere I would have let you stay with me~!” She sobbed.

She returned next to her place next to Bakugo and put her phone away.

“Does your mom pay you to keep tabs on me, or do you just tell her everything all the time?”

I fake gasped. “I’ll have you know I’m a full fledged momma’s boy and I will tell my mom everything and anything!”

“Apparently.” Suto chuckled.

Then I caught sight of Bakugo. He had on that familiar jealous glare I always got whenever Sutomu and I did *literally* anything together/alone. I rolled my eyes and shook my head, choosing to ignore it.

He knows I have no weird intentions with her yet he still gets all jealous. He needs to say something to her before some other guy comes around and wins her over... ohhhh boy I would never hear the end of that from him.


	34. Teasing

“So you’re going to come over to help us work on the summer homework, right?” I asked, taking a quick swing at the punching bag.

“If I don’t, then you’ll never do it.” He teased from behind the bag he was holding still for me.

“Uh huh.” I rolled my eyes. “Just admit you’re going to miss, Eiji. It’s ok, I won’t judge.”

“Sure, the sound of silence will be so terrible.”

I threw a couple more punches, finishing up my set.

“I’ll give it a day before the silence drives you crazy.”

“Bet.” He huffed, switching places with me. 

“Then why did you agree to going to the beach with us for break?” I smirked, bracing myself to hold the bag.

“Because someone has to make sure you idiots don’t do anything stupid.” He took his first couple of warm up punches.

I looked quickly around the gym to make sure no one was in ear shot. “Uh huh, sure Katsuki.”

He placed his hand on the bag and used it for support to lean forward and stop my mocking with a quick kiss. He pulled away and gave his cocky smirk at the look of my flustered face.

“So that shuts you up? Noted.” He went back to his set.

“You jerk!” I laughed. “That’s playing dirty!”

“You’ll get over it.”

——————————

“BOO!”

“AH!” My hair flared in sparks when I was scared out of my seat and fell sprawled on the floor. “MINA!” I scolded her.

She, however, couldn’t breath from how hard she was laughing. “I couldn’t help it!” She tried to speak between her howling. “You were just so zoned out, you made it too easy!”

I blushed and scanned the classroom for my fellow classmates who might have heard my outburst. Class had just ended and everyone was slowly filtering out of the room to go about their personal lives.

“Don’t worry,” she whispered in my ear. “I won’t tell anyone exactly who you were staring at for so long.”

Without a thought, I turned and pinched her side boob through her shirt and twisted it. “OWWWWW! SUTO! Why are you so mean?!” She fake sobbed.

“Then shush it!” I giggled.

“Hey! Sutomu!” Midoriya approached us with a big grin!

“Hey, Midoriya! What’s up?”

“I saw you and Kacchan training together yesterday!”

My smile dropped. Oh fuck did he see?!

“Oh, is that so?”

His face grew stern at my new reaction. “Um. Yeah. Was it supposed to be a secret?”

I looked with pleading eyes over to Katsuki for help but he was too caught up in yelling at the boys (for who knows what) to notice.

“... yeah. We’re not really telling anyone just yet.”

“What are you two talking about?” Mina tilted her head.

“Sutomu’s ultimate move her and Kacchan were working on yesterday.” He nervously bowed to me. “I’m sorry, Suto. I wasn’t spying, I just happened to walk out while you two were sparring.”

Relief washed over me. He didn’t see Katsuki kiss me, only us practicing our ultimate move for finals.

“Oh!” I giggled, capturing Katsuki’s acknowledgement. “Yeah he was helping my attack stamina. It takes a lot out of me and I’m a little nervous about perfecting in time for the exam.”

“Well from what I’ve seen, you don’t have that much left to work on! It looked super effective, in fact if you don’t mind, I would love to hear how your quirk works!”

Mina rolled her eyes. I knew enough about Midoriya to know he likes to take notes and learn from others quirks. Very admirable in my opinion.

I shrugged. “Yeah sure, what do you want to know?”

He frantically grabbed his notebook from his bag and slid into Toriga’s empty desk.

“Here we go...” Mina sighed.

I thought she was referring to Midoriya’s muttering habits, but the loud plop of Katsuki sitting himself sideways in the seat in front of me clarified things. He turned his body around in the chair just enough to face both me and Midoriya. He didn’t say anything, just messed with his phone.

A small smile stretched onto my face at his gesture, but continued to explain my absorb and project quirk to Midoriya in detail. He asked a lot of questions, most faster than I can answer, but I still offered him as much information as I could. 

“Are you about done, Fanboy?” Katsuki’s eyes narrowed at him. “We have plans, you know?”

Midoriya looked up from his notebook with slight surprise. “Plans?”

Before I could clarify, Katsuki crossed his arm and scowled. “Yeah. In case you didn’t notice, we have finals coming up. There’s a lot of work that goes into being the best!”

The confusion stuck around on Midoriya’s face before understanding. He stood out of his chair and packed his notebook back into his bag. “Oh! I’m sorry I didn’t mean to hold you guys up then. Well catch up later, Sutomu! Thanks again!”

I nodded and politely waved. Katsuki stood up and made direct eye contact with me. “You ‘bout ready?”

“Sure thing!” I stood up and walked with him out the classroom. “I’m thinking cardio as a warm up followed by ultimate move training for the rest of the night.”

“Dumbass, you always want to do cardio as a warm up. There are other exercises, you know?!” He scolded me.

I giggled at his attempt to reprimand me. He slid the classroom door open for me and barked again.

“I’m serious! Cardio alone doesn’t get the results you want!”

I walked past him and into the hallway. “Alright I get it!” I giggled harder.

He rolled his eyes, and pressed his hand on my lower back to persuade me to keep walking, which I did without much thought to the motion of his.

-Mina-

My eye twitched. I frantically pulled Kirishima to my side and point towards the door the two just closed behind them.

“Did you see that, Kiri?!”

I held him by the collar to keep him at my eye level. He studied the door for a moment before answering with a confused no.

“Bakugo had his hand on her lower back!” I yelled in hushed whispers. “I’ve never seen him do that!”

He shrugged. “He likes her, he’s bound to show SOME kind of affection eventually... believe it or not.” He muttered the last part.

“But she didn’t even react to it! Like it was completely normal!”

He pulled himself free of my grasp and stood up straight, towering over me. “They spend a lot of time together, she probably doesn’t think anything of it.”

“Well I think it’s more than that...” I crossed my arms and pouted.

He playfully nudged my arm. “Come on, let them figure stuff out on their own. They’re both very unique personalities, so if anything DOES happen between them, it should be natural, alright?” He gave his big toothy grin, making me blush. Thank god for being pink or it may be noticeable. “So please don’t get involved?”

“... fine.”

“Atta girl.” My face burned hot and my heart raced at the phrase. “Hey! We’re going to get something to eat in a minute, wanna go?”

“Um y-yeah. Sure, Kiri!”

Well Mina, you have discovered your first kink. Congrats dumbass.


End file.
